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PEACE PRINCIPLES 

IX THE 

urn HISTORK OF PEIIIISnVlllllll, 



BY 



SAMUEL M. JANNEY, 

AUTHOR or THE "LIFE OF WILLIAM TENN," "LIFE OF GF.OKGE FOX, 
"history of FKIENDS," ETC., ETC, 



Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children 

of God.— Matt. v. [). 

The work of righteousness shall bo peace ; and the effect of righteousness, 

quietness and assurance forever. — Isaiah xxxii. 17. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

FRIENDS' BOOK ASSOCIATION, 

706 Arch Street. 

187 6. 



Entered according- to Act of Congress in the year 18T6, by the 

Friends' Book Association of Philadelphia, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. 



n^ 






PREFACE. 



"yN this centennial year, when the repre- 
sentatives of nearly all civilized nations 
will meet in the city of Brotherly Love, 
and engage in harmonious intercourse, it 
seems to be an appropriate season to revive 
the memory of the Founder of Pennsylva- 
nia, and to illustrate the principles of 
peace. 

There is, in thoughtful minds through- 
out Christendom, a growing disposition to 
consider the best means of averting the 
dreadful calamities of war, and the oppres- 

3 



4 Preface. 

sion that results from maintaining vast 
armaments in time of peace. But we 
must not expect the rulei's of nations to 
reform these evils until the people shall 
demand it, nor will the people demand it 
until they are more generally enlightened 
and imbued with Christian principles. 

A good work is being done by the Peace 
Societies in this country, and in Europe. 
Their publications have thrown a flood 
of light upon the enormous evils of Avar, 
and" the means that may be used to secure 
the blessings of peace. They have shown 
that International arbitration has, in 
many instances, succeeded in settling 
disputes that endangered the peace of na- 
tions, and that a code of International laws, 
administered by a High Court of Nations, 
would be the means of preserving peaceful 



Preface. 5 

relations, and leading ' to a general dis- 
armament throughout Christendom. 

They have called in earnest language 
upon the ministers and members of 
Christian Churches to proclaim and to 
practise the Law of Love as taught and 
exemplified by the Author of our religion, 
a law that is no less imperative upon 
nations than upon individuals, which 
would lead to the reign of universal peace 
as foretold by the prophet, when "nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more." 

My design, in this work, is to give a 
concise account of the only attempt that 
has ever been made to govern a common- 
wealth on the principles enunciated by 
our Saviour, in His Sermon on the Mount, 
and to show that the reign of "peace on 



6 Pkeface. 

earth, and good will to men/' is not only 
beautiful in theory, but feasible in 
jjractice* 

It will be observed that a portion of the 
materials used in this essay are re- 
produced from my work entitled " The 
Life of William Penn, with Selections from 
his Correspondence and Autobiography," 
to which the reader is referred for further 
particulars relating to the early history 
of Pennsj'lvania. 

Samuel M. Janney. 

Lincoln, Loudoun County, Virginia. 
Third Month, First, 1876. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELAWARE. 

1623-1G77. 
Dutch settlement — Fort Nassau — Captain Mey — De Vrie's colony at 
Ilooi-kills — Destroyed by Indians — Swedish colony and fort at Chris-* 
tina — At Tinicum — Colonel John Printz — Warlike measures — The 
Dutch build Fort Cassimer — The Swedes subdued — Dutch policy — The 
English take possession for the Duke of York — Disastrous results of 
military sway II 

CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF WILLIAM PENN — SETTLEMENT 
OF NEW JERSEY. 

1644-1678. 
Peiin at Oxford— Religious impressions — Tour of Europe — Sent to Ire 
land— Militai-y expedition — Preaching of Thomas Loe — Penn con- 
vinced of Friends' principles — Displeasure of his father — Penn becomes 
an author — Imprisoned in the Tower — Released — Arrested at a 
Friends' meeting— Trial of Penn and Mead— Their imprisonment— 
Penn pleads for liberty of conscience— Death of his father— Coloniza- 
tion of New Jersey 25 



Table of Contents. 



CHAPTER II. 

COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
1G80-1G82. 
William Peun iietitions Charles II. for territory on the Delaware — The 
royal patent for Pennsylvania — Penn's letter to the inhabitants — His 
care for the Indians — His letter to them — Arrival of colonists — Penn's 
views on government — The first constitution — Grant of territory by 
Duke of York — Penn's instructions to his children — His arrival at 
New Castle — He reaches Philadelphia — Meets the Indians — Plan of 
the city — Visits New York — Account of the great treaty at Shacka- 
maxon 37 

CHAPTER III. 

LEGISLATION— AND INTEECOUPvSE WITH INDIANS. 
1GS2-1C83. 
First assembly — Code of laws — Assembly in Philadelphia — New Charter 
— Purchase of Indian lands— The long walk— Trial for witchcraft and 
acquittal — Rapid increase of population— Character of colonists — Indian 
traits 65 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE BOUNDARY QUESTION — REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 

1G84-1G89. 
Controversy with Lord Baltimore about boundaries — Penn's return to 
England — The boundary question considered — Death of Charles II. — 
Accession of James II. — Release of Friends from prison — Affairs of 
Pennsylvania — Unpopularity of the king — His abdication — William 
and Mary crowned — William Penn arrested — Cleared in open court — 
Act of toleration — Blackwell appointed governor — His resignation — 
Indian alarm 83 



Table of Contents. 



CHAPTER V. 

TEOUBLES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. 

1689-1695. 
War in Europe — Penn arrested and discharged — Funeral of George Fox 
— Penn lives in seclusion — Affairs of Pennsylvania — Separation of 
territories — George Keith's separation — AVilliam Penn deprived of his 
government — He is cleared by the king — Penu's maxims — His essay 
towards the present and future peace of Europe 98 

CHAPTER VI. 

COLONIAL AFFAIRS— PENN'S REMOVAL TO THE COLONY. 
1693-1701. 
Governor Fletcher's administration — Military services demanded — Per- 
plexity of the assembly — Restoration of the government to Penn — 
Markham deputy-governor — Prosperity of the colony — Penn's second 
marriage — Death of his son — Travels as a minister — Embarks for Penn- 
sylvania — Arrival— James Logan secretary— Penn's concern for the 
blacks and Indians — Rise of testimony against slavery — Its progress — 
Penn liberates his slaves — Pennsbury manor — Indian councils — The 
king's requisition for money to build forts — Motion in Parliament to 
annex pi'oprietary governments to the crown — Indian visitors — Assem- 
bly meets — New constitution — Friends' public school — Penn and 
family return to England 114 

CHAPTER VII. 

penn's PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS. 

1702-1709. 

Death of King William and accession of Queen Anne — Penn in favor at 

court — Affairs of Pennsylvania — Governor Hamilton — The church 

party — Colonel Quan-y — Penn's pecuniary wants — He proposes to sell 

his government to the crown — Governor Evans and William Penn, Jr., 



10 Table of Contents. 



in Pennsylvania — Evans' proclamation for a militia — False alarm and 
illegal exactions of Governor Evans— Removal of Evans and appoint- 
ment of Governor Gookin — Penn's imprisonment for debt — His release. 135 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAST DAYS OF PENN. 
1709-1718. 
Dissensions between the council and assembly — Requisitions for military 
purposes — Rejected by the assembly — Contest between David Lloyd 
and James Logan — Logan goes to England and is acquitted — Reaction 
in Pennsylvania in favor of the Proprietary — Harmony restored— Sub- 
sidy granted to the queen — Act to prevent the importation of negroes 
—Penn's proposed sale of his government — He is stricken with paraly- 
sis—His death and character 152 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE PEACE-POLICY A SUCCESS. 

Difficulties encountered by Penn — Wars of the other colonies — Feasibil- 
ity of peace-principles — Political contests in all free governments — 
Feudalism and democracy incompatible — Death penalty not inflicted 
—Intercourse with Indians — Testimony of C. Sumner in favor of peace. 162 




INTRODUCTION. 



FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELA- 
WARE. 

1623-1677. 

THE colonization and early history of Penn- 
sylvania, under the government of its illus- 
trious founder, is a subject of deep interest to 
reflecting minds, affording instructive evidence of 
the blessings derived from religious liberty and 
the practical observance of Christian principles. 

The entire absence of military defences, the en- 
joyment of uninterrupted peace, the freedom and 
liberality of her institutions, the patriarchal sim- 
plicity of manners united with moral refinement, 
and the unexam])led rapidity of her growth, are 
features that cannot be found so happily blended 
in the history of any other people. 

It is the purpose of this work to furnish a con- 
densed statement of the government established 
and the principles maintained by the colonists 
who were engaged with William Penn in his 

11 



12 Introduction. 

noble enterprise, and as a preliminary to this de- 
sign a brief notice of the earlier European settle- 
ments on the banks of the Delaware is deemed 
appropriate. 

The first of those settlements was planted by 
the Dutch in the year 1623, under the command 
of Captain Cornelius Jacobson Mey, who sailed 
up the Delaware to the vicinity of Gloucester 
Point, and " on the eastern shore commenced the 
erection of Fort Nassau, as well for security 
against the Indians as for a trading-post with 
them.'' * 

The measures pursued by the Dutch in erecting 
forts and exhibiting the implements of war, were 
in striking contrast with the peaceable policy after- 
wards pursued by Penn and his associates, and 
the results that ensued furnish a cogent argument 
in favor of peace principles. 

The expedition under the command of Captain 
Mey was sent out by the Dutch AVest India Com- 
pany with a view to establishing a fur trade with 
the natives. It appears that the enterprise was 
not successful ; most of the colonists abandoned 
the fort, and after a lapse of ten years it was 
found in possession of the Indians. 

In 1630, the Dutch West India Company sent 
out two vessels under the command of De Yries, 

* Hazard's "Annals of Pennsylvania," p. 13. 



Introduction. 13 

who, in the following year, founded a colony near 
Cape Henlopen, on Lewis's Creek, which he named 
Hoorn-kill, probably from the place of his resi- 
dence, Hoorn, a port in Holland. Here he built 
a trading-house or fort, defended by a palisade. 
After a short stay he returned to Holland, leaving 
the colony, consisting of more than thirty persons, 
under the command of Giles Osset. 

During the absence of De Vries his lieutenant 
quarrelled with the Indians. One of their chiefs 
was killed in the affray, and the friends of the 
murdered cliief attacked the fort and put all the 
colonists to death. 

On the return of De Vries with others the fol- 
lowing year a melancholy spectacle was presented 
to their view. ^^ They found their dwelling-house 
and store had been burnt to the ground and their 
fortification utterly destroyed. But the most 
affecting scene presented itself when they came to 
the place where their countrymen had been butch- 
ered : the ground was bestrewed with heads and 
bones of their murdered men." * 

De Vries, being a prudent and humane man, 
made no attempt to punish the Indians, but by 
acts of kindness succeeded in opening a friendly 
intercourse with them. He ascended the Delaware 
as far as the site of Fort Nassau, and then pro- 

* " Original Settlements on the Delaware," by B. Ferris. 

2 



14 Introduction. 

ceeded to New Amsterdam. He attributed the 
failure of the Dutch settlements on the Delaware 
to the unjust dealings and imperious conduct of 
the colonists; and after an intimate acquaintance 
of many years with the Indian character, has left 
on record this testimony : '^ They will do no 
harm, if no harm is done to them.'' 

The next attempt to plant a colony on the 
western bank of the Delaware was made by the 
Swedes in the year 1638. Peter Minuit, who com- 
manded the expedition, had been director-general 
of the Dutch West India Company and governor 
of the New Netherlands. Being dismissed from 
that office, he determined to offer his services to 
the crown of Sweden. The officers in the expedi- 
tion were mostly military men ; they were pro- 
vided with troops, arms and ammunition, brought 
with the express purpose of establishing a military 
post. 

Although the Dutch had failed in their attempts 
to establish colonies on the banks of the Dela- 
ware, they still claimed the country for their gov- 
ernment on the ground of discovery, which was 
then deemed sufficient by the potentates of Chris- 
tendom to give them a preference in the purchase 
and settlement of lands inhabited by uncivilized 
nations. When Kieft, the governor-general of the 
New Netherlands, was informed of the hostile 



Introduction. 15 

movement of the Swedes, he immediately issued a 
protest against the encroachment, and declared his 
intention to protect the rights of the Dutch to the 
territory invaded.* 

The Swedes arrived in the spring, and sailing 
up Delaware Bay, they came to a promontory 
since called Mispillion Point, where they landed, 
and found the climate and the scenery so delight- 
ful after their long voyage, that they named it 
" Paradise Point.'^ Embarking again, they pro- 
ceeded up the Delaware to the mouth of the Min- 
quas Piver, which they subsequently named Chris- 
tina, in honor of the young queen of Sweden. 
Passing up the Minquas, they came to a point 
called ^^The Pocks,'^ where a natural wharf of 
stone seemed to invite their landing, and there 
they disembarked and began to erect their fort. 

The Dutch governor at New Amsterdam, not 
being supplied with the means to support his 
claim over the lands on the Delaware, made no 
attempt to prevent by force of arms the Swedish 
occupation, and for some years the colony they 
founded remained in undisturbed tranquillity, re- 
ceiving fresh accessions of Scandinavian settlers. 

The Dutch valued the land only for purposes 
of trade, and made few improvements ; the Swedes 
were an agricultural people, and immediately 

* " Original Settlements on the Delaware," by B. Ferris, p. 38. 



16 Introduction. 

began to open farms and plant fruit trees. Being 
mild and peaceable, their intercourse with the 
natives was entirely friendly, and they found no 
difficulty in procuring subsistence. 

In the year 1642 the Swedish government sent 
out, under the command of John Printz, two ships 
of war, having on board arms, ammunition, troops, 
a large number of emigrants, and a clergyman. 
They landed a short distance above the spot where 
Chester now stands, and at a place called Tinicum, 
they built a fort and named it Ncav Gottanburg. 
John Printz, lieutenant-colonel in the army, was 
in his commission styled governor of New Sweden. 
The instructions he received from his government 
required him to cultivate a friendly intercourse 
with the Dutch, "but positively to deny their 
pretended right to any part of the land on the 
west side of the Delaware River, purchased by the 
Swedes from the Indians, and to prohibit Swedish 
vessels passing their Fort Nassau ; and he was 
authorized, if all friendly negotiation proved 
fruitless, to 7'epel force by joreeP In these in- 
structions we see the indication of a warlike 
policy which gave rise to contention, and event- 
ually brought on a war with the Dutch, that put 
an end to the Swedish authority in America. 

Printz was an energetic officer, bold, arbitrary 
and persevering. He fortified both shores of the 



Introduction. 17 

river, and when the Dutch had re-established their 
authority at Fort Nassau, he exacted tolls from 
their vessels passing up the river to visit their 
settlements. 

In the year 1647, Peter Stuyvesant succeeded 
Kieft as governor of the New Netherlands, and 
being an energetic officer, he took active measures 
to counteract the aggressive movements of the 
Swedes on the Delaware. He caused a fort to be 
erected, in the year 1651, on the site now occu})ied 
by the town of New Castle, which he named Fort 
Cassimer. The Dutch forces on the Delaware 
were continually augmented, and frequent quar- 
rels ensued between them and the Swedes, until 
the year 1654, when John Rysingh arrived, in a 
ship of war, and was invested with the govern- 
ment of the Swedish colony. He immediately 
attacked the Dutch Fort Cassimer, and the garri- 
son being unprepared for resistance surrendered 
without a struggle. 

Governor Stuyvesant, being informed of the 
loss of his fort, determined to prepare for active 
retaliation, but prudently concealed his purpose 
until the summer of 1655, when he appeared in 
the Delaware with a squadron of seven armed 
ships and transports containing between six and 
seven hundred men. The Swedish governor, 
being surprised at the appearance of an armament 



18 iNTRODUCTlOJi". 

greatly superior to his own forces, resorted to 
negotiation, and protested against the evident 
designs of the Dutch, but Stuyvesant was not to 
be moved from his purpose; he demanded the 
surrender of the forts, and claimed possession of 
the territory occupied by the Swedes. Governor 
Rysingh, seeing that resistance would be in vain, 
capitulated, and the Dutch governor, after taking 
possession, issued a proclamation, by which all 
the Swedes who desired to remain in the country 
were required to come forward and take the oath 
of allegiance. 

Thus terminated the Swedish dominion on the 
banks of the Delaware. It took the sword and 
perished with the sword. 

It has been remarked by the historian of "The 
Original Settlements on the Delaware'^ that " it 
was, perhaps, one of the most fruitful sources of 
unhappiness to the Swedish emigrants, that their 
colonial rulers were always military characters, 
relying more on coercive power than on the 
omnipotent influence of justice, candor, benevo- 
lence and truth. There are few instances in the 
history of the human family where the disparity 
between the character of a people and their rulers 
was more apparent than in the case before us." * 

The Swedish colonists were industrious and 

* Ferris' "Original Settlements on the Delaware," p. 100. 



Introduction. 19 

peaceable, with strong religions feelings, and warm 
domestic attachments. They had lived in peace 
with their Indian neighbors, and after their sub- 
mission to the Dutch they manifested no disposi- 
tion to revolt, but quietly pursued their industrial 
avocations. The aggressive disposition of their 
military rulers, so far from protecting them, had 
been the source of their greatest troubles and 
caused the downfall of the Swedish dominion in 
America. 

The main object of the Dutch West India Com- 
pany, in extending their settlements, Avas to increase 
their trade and secure to themselves the whole com- 
merce of the territories on the Delaware. They 
introduced a few more settlers, but they made 
little progress in the improvement of the colony. 

'^ Under the leaden sceptre of a Dutch trading 
company everything beautiful, and fair, and good 
languished. The people were discouraged and 
indolent; the lands, by nature fruitful, were 
neglected, and lay waste. The manners of the 
people were rude and unpolished, education was 
not promoted, the standard of morals was low, 
and the population, which had gradually aug- 
mented under the Swedish dominion, had increased 
but little under that of the Dutch." * 

During nine years after the conquest of the 

* Ferris' "Original Settlements on the Delaware," p. 111. 



20 Introduction. 

Swedish colony the Dutch retained possession of 
the territory on the western bank of the Delaware, 
and of the country on the shores of the Hudson, 
then called the New Netherlands, of which New 
Amsterdam was the capital. The English, at the 
same time, occupied the rest of the North Ameri- 
can coast from Maine to Carolina. In the year 
1664, Charles II., being covetous to obtain the 
control of the whole coast, sent a small squadron, 
under the command of Colonel Nicholls and Sir 
Robert Carr, with instructions to reduce the Dutch 
forts and put the Duke of York in possession of 
the New Netherlands. 

The English and Dutch governments were then 
at peace, and the governor of New Amsterdam, 
when the English fleet appeared, remonstrated 
against this unprovoked invasion, asserting that 
the Dutch had bought the Indian title and planted 
the colony fifty years before. Colonel Nicholls, 
regardless of the governor's remonstrance, made 
preparations to attack the fort, and Stuyvesant, 
being conscious that he could not defend it, agreed 
to articles of capitulation. New Amsterdam 
liaving thus fallen into the hands of the British, 
the rest of the New Netherlands soon submitted, 
and the squadron, under the command of Sir 
Robert Carr, proceeded to the Delaware. 

On the arrival of Carr before Fort Cassimer, 



Introduction. 21 

"the burgomasters, on behalf of themselves and 
all the Dutch and Swedes,'^ submitted without 
resistance, and the British authority was estab- 
lished. 

Colonel Nicholls, on the submission of the 
Dutch, assumed the administration of the New 
Netherlands as governor, under the Duke of 
York, and the city, with the territory adjoining, 
received the name of New York. 

New Jersey had been granted by the Duke of 
York to liord Berkeley and Sir George Cartaret, 
and the territory on the west side of the Delaware 
remained under the control of the Duke. 

In the year 1667, Governor Nicholls was suc- 
ceeded by Colonel Francis Lovelace, as Governor 
of New York and its dependencies. His admin- 
istration was arbitrary and unsatisfactory to the 
colonists. 

In 1673, the Dutch and English being at war, 
a Dutch fleet, under the command of Admiral 
Evertsen, recaptured New York and its depen- 
dencies. Anthony Colve was appointed governor- 
general, and Peter Alrich, his deputy, as com- 
mandant over the territory on the Delaware. 
The transfer of allegiance to the Dutch govern- 
ment did not long continue, for a treaty was made 
the following year, under wdiich the country w^as 
restored to the English. In the autumn of 1674, 



22 Introduction. 

Major Edward Andross arrived at New York and 
assumed the government, by authority from the 
Duke of York. All the functions of the execu- 
tive and legislative departments w^ere vested in 
him and his council, and their authority extended 
not only over New York and its dependencies on 
the Delaware, but also over New Jersey, although 
a government had been established there by an 
express grant from the Duke of York to the pro- 
prietors.* Among the powers claimed by Andross 
was that of imposing duties on exports and 
imports, which were levied on all vessels navigat- 
ing the Delaware, whether destined to the ports 
of New Jersey or those on the west side of the 
river. This unwarrantable exaction, and other 
arbitrary acts of Governor Andross, gave much 
dissatisfaction and retarded the growth of the 
colonies under his control. 

Let us now take a retrospective survey of the 
results of military rule on the banks of the Dela- 
ware. Fifty years had elapsed since the first 
colony was planted by the Dutch and named Fort 
Nassau. It languished a few years, and was, for 
a time, abandoned. Their next attempt was a 
fortified settlement near the mouth of Delaware 
Bay, which was destroyed by the Indians. The 
Swedes succeeded them and planted a colony, but 

* Ferris' "Oi'iginal Settlements on the Delaware." 



Intboduction. 23 

the aggressive policy of their military governor 
brought on a war which resulted in their subjec- 
tion to the Dutch. These, in turn, were conquered 
by the English, and the country, under the despotic 
sway of the governors Lovelace and Andross, made 
but little progress in population or industrial pur- 
suits. Agriculture was at a low ebb, education 
neglected, and the moral condition of the people 
by no means encouraging. 

There was, however, a brighter day about to 
dawn upon the shores of the Delaware. The 
colony of New Jersey was already enjoying the 
benefits of civil and religious liberty, the doctrine 
of peace and good-will to men had been proclaimed 
there by Penn and his associates, and the time was 
drawing nigh when Pennsylvania would exhibit 
to the world the nearest approach that has ever 
been made to a government founded on Christian 
principles. 




PEACE TRIKCIPLES EXEMPLIFIED 

IN THE 

EARLY HISTORY OF PENi\SYLVANIA. 

CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF WILLIAM PENN — 
SETTLEMENT OF NEW JERSEY. 

1644-1678. 

THE steps by which William Penn was lead 
to take an interest in American coloniza- 
tion, and the preparation he received for his great 
work as the founder of a commonwealth, are 
worthy of note, as an instance of that providential 
care by which the Most High directs the destinies 
of his chosen instruments, and accomplishes his 
own beneficent purposes. 

He was born in London, in the year 1644, and 

was the son of Sir William Penn, a distinguished 

admiral in the English navy. He received at 

Oxford a liberal education, and while there became 

3 - 25 



26 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

deeply impressed with religious convictions under 
the preaching of Thomas Loe, a minister in the 
Society of Friends. On his return home his 
father saw with grief the serious deportment of 
his son, which he feared would blast the prospects 
of w^orldly honor he had cherished for him. He 
therefore sent him to France, in company with 
some persons of rank who were about to make the 
tour of Europe. During this tour he sought the 
company of men distinguished for learning and 
piety, and returned home enriched with knowl- 
edge and polished in manners. Soon after his 
return he became, at his father's suggestion, a 
student at Lincoln^s Inn, in order to acquire a 
knowledge of the laws of England. 

In the spring of 1666, his father, having a large 
estate in Ireland, sent iiim tliither, and procured 
him an introduction to the Lord-Lieutenant, the 
Duke of Ormond, who presided over a court of 
gayety and splendor. While residing there, he 
joined a military expedition sent to quell a 
mutiny in the garrison of Carrickfergus, and 
evinced so much valor and energy that the duke 
wished to make him a captain of infantry. This 
post he was desirous to obtain ; for the gay world 
around him had in a great measure obliterated his 
serious impressions, and imbued him with a love 
of military glory. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 27 

Happily for him, his father refused his consent, 
and in thus frustrating the ambitious aspirations 
of his son, he unwittingly reserved him for a 
nobler field of service to which he was destined 
by Divine Providence. 

While residing in Ireland, he went to Cork on 
business, where he heard that Thomas Loe was to 
attend a Friends' meeting in that city, and his 
affection for that eminent minister induced him to 
attend. After an interval of silent worship, 
Thomas Loe commenced his discourse with these 
words : ^' There is a faith which overcomes the 
world, and there is a faith which is overcome by 
the world,'' On this theme he spoke so impres- 
sively that the feelings of William Penn were 
effectually reached, his religious convictions were 
revived, and yielding to the operation of divine 
grace, he resolved to renounce the glory of the 
workl and devote himself to the service -of God. 

Having become an attendant of the religious 
meetings of Friends, he was soon subjected 
to the opprobrium and persecution they every- 
where endured. In the autumn of 16G7, he 
was, with eighteen others, taken from a Friends' 
meeting in Cork and committed to prison. From 
thence he wrote a letter to the Earl of Orrerj', 
Lord-President of IVIunster, in which he says, 
" Religion, which is at once my crime and mine 



28 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

innocence, makes me a prisoner to a mayor's 
malice, but mine own free man." In this letter 
he pleads for liberty of conscience, a noble prin- 
ciple, more fully developed in his subsequent 
works. It was the beginning of that long series 
of efforts in favor of universal toleration, which 
after more than twenty years of arduous conflict, 
were crowned with success. 

His request, so far as related to himself, was 
granted by the earl, who gave an order for his 
immediate release. 

The report that he had become a Quaker soon 
reached his lather, who was induced to recall him, 
an order which he promptly obeyed. The admiral, 
seeing that his son firmly adhered to his religious 
principles, and his unceremonious behavior, was 
highly incensed, and finding remonstrance and 
entreaty ineffectual, expelled him from his house. 

His situation was painful and embarrassing^ 
Being destitute of pecuniary resources and with- 
out a trade or profession, he was for a time 
dependent on the hospitality of his friends. At 
length his father, softened, perhaps, by the en- 
treaties of his wife, who was an excellent woman, 
allowed him to obtain subsistence at home, though 
he gave him no open countenance. 

In the year 1668, he felt himself called to the 
gospel ministry, and about the same date became 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 29 

known as a writer of rdigious works. One of 
his earliest publications, entitled the " Sandy 
Foundation Shaken/' gave great offence to the 
clergy and especially to the Bishop of London, 
insomuch that an order was procured for Penn's 
imprisonment in the tower, where he w-as confined 
with great rigor, and his friends were denied 
access to him. 

During his imprisonment, Dr. Stillingfleet, 
afterwards bishop of Worcester, came at the king's 
request to endeavor to change his judgment; but 
he told the doctor, who repeated the same to the 
king, ^' That the Tower w-as the worst argument 
in the world to convince him ; for whoever was in 
the wrong, those who used force for religion never 
could be in the right." 

He remained a prisoner nearly nine months, 
and his discharge from the Tower came from the 
king, through the intercession of his brother, the 
Duke of York, who afterwards took the title of 
James II. This kindness on the part of the duke, 
and his continued favor after he became king, 
produced in the mind of Penn a sentiment of 
gratitude, and a strong personal attachment, which 
continued through life, and subjected him to 
groundless suspicion and persecution, after the 
fall of his royal patron. 

In the year 1670, the Conventicle Act was 



30 Peace PpwIxciples Exemplified. 

renewed, which was professedly against ^^ Seditious 
conventicles/' but really intended to suppress all 
religious meetings conducted ^'in any other man- 
ner than according to the liturgy and practice of 
the church of England." It was said to have 
been enacted at the suggestion of some of the 
bishops. 

It was not long before Penn was made to feel 
the force of this arbitrary law, for on going to the 
meeting at Grace church street, he found the house 
guarded by a band of soldiers. He and other 
Friends, not being permitted to enter, gathered 
about the doors, where, after standing some time 
in silence, he felt it his duty to preach, but had 
not proceeded far when he and William Mead 
were arrested by the constables, who produced 
warrants from Sir Samuel Starling, the mayor of 
London. 

The trial, as related in the published works of 
Penn, is deeply interesting, and resulted in the 
greater security and more firm establishment of 
civil liberty in England. The indictment charged 
that "they did unlawfully and tumultuously 
assemble and congregate themselves together, to 
the disturbance of the peace.'' The jury brought 
in a verdict of not guilty, and after being menaced 
and reviled by the court, they were fined forty 
marks each, which tliey refused to pay, and were 
committed to prison. 



Peace Prixctples Exemplified. 81 

Penn and Mead were also fined, and imprisoned 
in Newgate. The jury, through their counsel, 
applied for redress to the court of common pleas; 
that tribunal overruled the decision of the lower 
court and set the prisoners free, which was regarded 
by the advocates of civil and religious liberty as a 
triumph of their cause. 

Admiral Penn was drawing near the close of 
life, he longed to see his son, and sent the money 
privately to pay his fine and that of his companion 
in bonds. The meeting between the father and 
son was deeply moving to both, a complete recon- 
ciliation took place, and the admiral, being at last 
convinced of the noble character of his son, said to 
him, just before he died: "Son William, if you 
and your friends keep to your plain way of preach- 
ing and to your plain way of living, you will 
make an end of the priests to the end of the world. 
Bury me by my mother. Live in love. Shun 
all manner of evil, and I pray God to bless you 
all, and he will bless you." 

Within three months from the time of his 
enlargement, Penn was again arrested, while 
preaching at a Friends' meeting, and being 
arraigned before Sir John Pobinson, lieutenant 
of the Tower, he was sentenced to six months' 
imprisonment in Newgate. While incarcerated 
in this " loathsome abode of misery and crime,'' 



32 Peace Prixciples Exemplified. 

the pure and active mind of Penn was engaged in 
writing religious tracts, the most important of 
which is entitled, " The Great Cause of Liberty 
of Conscience once more briefly Debated and 
Defended by the Authority of Reason, Scripture, 
and Antiquity." 

This able work, and others of a like character 
by the same author, exerted a powerful influence 
in preparing the public mind for that change of 
policy in regard to toleration, which he afterwards 
had the happiness to see adopted by the British 
government. 

The time was now drawing nigh when Penn 
was to take an active and conspicuous part in the 
affairs of the American continent, where he was 
destined to carry into practice those Christian 
principles for which he had been pleading and 
suffering. 

Lord Berkeley, in the year 1675, for the sura 
of one thousand pounds, sold his half of the prov- 
ince of New Jersey to John Fen wick, in trust for 
Edward Byllinge and his assigns. Fenwick and 
Byllinge, both members of the Society of Friends, 
became involved in a dispute about the property, 
and having confidence in the judgment of Penn, 
they agreed to refer the matter to him for arbitra- 
tion. The dispute being adjusted by the kind 
offices of Penn, one-tenth of West New Jersey was 



Peace Pkixciples Exemplified. 33 

retained by Fenwick, and the remaining nine- 
tenths transferred, at the request of Byllinge, to 
William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, and Nicholas Lu- 
cas, trustees for the benefit of his creditors. 

Fenwick, in the same year, embarked with his 
family, and several other Friends, to take posses- 
sion of the land assigned him. As the ship pro- 
ceeded up the Delaware they were attracted by " a 
pleasant rich spot,'' at which they landed, and 
being pleased with the quietness and repose of the 
scene, they gave to their settlement the name of 
Salem. The Indians were then numerous in that 
neighborhood, and soon after the arrival of Fen- 
wick, he convened the chiefs, with whom he con- 
tracted for the purchase of their right and title to 
the lands now included in Salem and Cumberland 
counties. 

In the meantime the three trustees of Byl- 
linge- — Penn, Lav/rie, and Lucas — sold and trans- 
ferred shares in the province to a number of other 
Friends, who thus became joint proprietors with 
them. 

In order to promote the settlement of West New 
Jersey, a constitution was drawn up by Penn and 
his associates, and signed by one hundred and fifty- 
one persons interested in the colony. This paper, 
dated 1676, is entitled, ^'Concessions and Agree- 
ments of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabi- 



34 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

tants of the Province of West New Jersey." In 
a letter from the trustees to one of the colonists, 
supposed to have been written by Penn, they say : 

^^ We have made concessions by ourselves, being 
such as Friends here, and there (we question not) 
will approve of, having sent a copy of them to 
James Wasse ; there we lay a foundation for after 
ages to understand their liberty as men and Chris- 
tians, that they may not be brought in bondage, 
but by their own consent ; for we jnit the power in 
the people; that is to say, they to meet and choose 
one honest man for each propriety who hath sub- 
scribed the concessions ; all these men to meet as an 
assembly, there to make and repeal laws, to choose 
a governor, or a commissioner, and twelve assist- 
ants to execute the laws during their pleasure ; so 
every man is capable to choose or be chosen. No 
man to be arrested, condemned, imprisoned, or 
molested in his estate or liberty, but by twelve 
men of the neighborhood ; no man to lie in prison 
for debt ; but that his estate satisfy as far as it will 
go, and be set at liberty to work ; no person to be 
called in question or molested for his conscience, 
or for worshipping according to his conscience; 
with many other things mentioned in the said 
concessions." 

This Constitution was, doubtless, the most lib- 
eral that had then been established in any Amer- 
':can colony. 



Peace Petnciples Exemplified. 35 

In the years 1677 and 1678 five vessels sailed for 
the province of West New Jersey with eight hun- 
dred emigrants, most of whom were members of the 
Society of Friends. Commissioners were sent out 
by the proprietors, with power to buy land from 
the natives, and to inspect the rights of such as 
claimed property, to order lands laid out and to 
administer tiie government. They selected for a 
settlement a place called Chygoes Island ; and the 
town they laid out was first called Beverly, after- 
wards Bridlington, and finally Burlington. 

The colonists made it their first care on landing 
to establish meetings for Divine worship and 
Christian discipline. At the place where Bur- 
lington now stands, their first meetings were held 
under a tent covered with sail cloth. Here they 
were held regularly at stated times, until John 
Woolton built his house, which was the first frame 
house erected in Burlington. 

Among the objects that first claimed the atten- 
tion of their meetings for discipline, were the care 
and support of the poor, the orderly conduct of 
their members and the solemnization of marriages. 
In these several respects, as well as in their efforts 
to put an end to the traffic in ardent spirits with 
the natives, they faithfully followed their convic- 
tions of duty, and the colony was blessed with an 
nnusual degree of prosperity and happiness under 



36 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

the government of Penn and his associates. Col- 
onists arrived in considerable numbers, good order 
and liarmony prevailed, the country proved to be 
productive, the air was salubrious, and the In- 
dians, being treated kindly, and dealt with justly, 
were found to be excellent neighbors. The Friends, 
who had been persecuted with relentless severity 
in their native land, found a peaceful and happy 
asylum in the forests of the new world, among a 
people who had hitherto been reputed as ruthless 
savages. 

In the same province, ten years before, the 
" Concessions '^ of Cartaret and Berkeley required 
each colonist to provide himself with a good 
musket, powder and balls; but now, the Friends 
came among their red brethren, armed only with 
the weapons of the Christian's warfare — integrity, 
benevolence, and truth ; they met them without 
fear or suspicion ; trusting in that universal prin- 
ciple of light and life which visits all minds, and 
would, if not resisted, bind the whole human 
family in one harmonious fraternity. 



CHAPTER II. 

COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
1680-1682. 

nnriE progress of mankind, to a higher level 
-■- of civilization and moral refinement, than 
was attained by the nations of antiquity, has been 
justly attributed to the influence of Christianity, 
although the holy principles of our religion have, 
in general, been imperfectly appreciated, and still 
more imperfectly carried out in practice. 

In no respect has this dereliction from first prin- 
ciples been more disastrous, than in continuing the 
custom of war, which, though opposed to the doc- 
trine and spirit of Christ, has, nevertheless, pre- 
vailed' to an enormous extent among nations 
professing the Christian religion. In order that 
an example might be set up to the nations, to 
show how war may be avoided and its dreadful 
consequences averted, simply by following the pre- 
cepts of Christ and trusting in Divine protection, 
William Penu and his associates were made the 

4 37 



38 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

instruments of the Most High to extend the Re- 
deemer's kingdom. 

He inherited from his father, Admiral Penn, a 
claim on the British government for money ad- 
\7^anced and services rendered to the amount of 
sixteen thousand pounds, and in the year 1680, 
}3etitioned Charles II. to grant him in lieu of this 
sum, a tract of country in America, lying north 
of Maryland, "bounded on the east by the Dela- 
ware riv^er, on the west limited as Maryland, and 
northward to extend as far as plantable." * 

The object of this enterprise was not only to 
provide a peaceful home for the persecuted mem- 
bers of his own Society, but to afford an asylum 
for the good and oppressed of every nation, and 
to found an empire where the pure and peaceable 
principles of Christianity might be exemplified in 
practice. 

Penn's application being granted, a patent was 
prepared for the king's signature, which was affixed 
to it under date 4th of March, 1681. The name 
of Pennsylvania was given by the king in, honor 
of Admiral Penn. 

The preamble of the royal charter declares that 
William Penn's application for the territory arose 
out of " a commendable desire to enlarge the Brit- 
ish empire, and promote such useful commodities 

* Hazard's "Annals," 475. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 39 

as may be a benefit to the king and his dominions; 
and also to reduce the savage nations, by just and 
gentle manners, to the love of civil society and the 
Christian religion." 

By the terms of the charter, William Penn is 
made absolute proprietary, saving to the king and 
his successors the sovereignty of the country and 
the allegiance of Penn, as well as all who shall be 
tenants under him. He was to acknowledge his 
fealty by paying to the king two beaver skins 
annually, and also one-fifth part of all the gold 
and silver ore which should be found in the prov- 
ince. The proprietary, witb the assent and 
approbation of the freemen of the colony, was 
empowered to make all necessary laws not incon- 
sistent with the laws of England. He was au- 
thorized to appoint magistrates and judges, to 
grant pardons, except for crimes of wilful murder 
and treason, and in these cases to grant reprieves 
until the king's pleasure should be known therein. 
The laws of the province were to be transmitted 
to the privy council for approbation. Penn and 
his heirs were to enjoy such customs on imports 
and exports in the province, as the people or their 
representatives when assembled might reasonably 
assess, " saving to the king and his successors such 
impositions and customs as are, or by act of Par- 
liament shall be, appointed." This last clause con- 



40 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

ceded to Parliament the power to tax the colony, 
a claim which, being afterwards asserted in some 
of the American provinces, led to momentous con- 
sequences. 

Within a month from the date of the charter, 
the king issued a declaration stating the grant that 
had been made to Penn, and requiring all persons 
settled in the province to yield obedience to him 
as absolute proprietor and governor. About the 
same time Penn addressed the following letter to 
the inhabitants of Pennsylvania : 

"My Friends': — I wish you all happiness 
here and hereafter. These are to let you know 
that it hath pleased God in his providence, to cast 
you within my lot and care. It is a business, that, 
though I never undertook before, yet God hath 
given me an understanding of my duty, and an 
honest mind to do it uprightly. I hope you will 
not be troubled at your change and the king's 
choice, for you are now fixed at the mercy of no 
governor that comes to make his fortune great ; 
you shall be governed by laws of your own 
making^ and live a free, and if you will, a sober 
and industrious people. I shall not usurp the 
right of any, or oppress his person. God has fur- 
nished me with a better resolution, and has given 
me his grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 41 

and free men can reasonably desire for the security 
and improvement of their own happiness, I shall 
h<^artily comply with, and in five months resolve, 
if it please God, to see you. In the meantime 
pray submit to the commands of my deputy, so 
far as they are consistent with the law, and pay 
him those dues [that formerly you paid to the 
order of the Governor of New^ York] for my use 
and benefit; and so I wish God to direct you in the 
way of righteousness, and therein prosper you and 
your children after you. I am your true friend, 

Wm. Penn. 

London, 8th of the month called April, 1681. 

"Such," says Bancroft, "were the pledges of 
the Quaker sovereign on assuming the govern- 
ment; it is the duty of history to state, that, 
during his long reign, these pledges were redeemed. 
He never refused the free men of Pennsylvania a 
reasonable desire." 

Penn's letter to the colonists and the king's 
declaration were taken out to the province by 
Captain William Markham, a cousin of the pro- 
prietary, who was commissioned to act as his 
deputy. 

The concessions or conditions agreed upon in 
England between the proprietary and those pur- 
chasers who were to be engaged with him in the 



42 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

enterprise, evince an earnest desire that justice 
should be done to the Indians, who were then the 
principal owners of the soil. Goods sold to them or 
exchanged for furs were to be exhibited in open 
market, in order that imposition might be pre- 
vented, or frauds detected ; no colonist was al- 
lowed to affront or wrong an Indian, without 
incurring the same penalty, as if committed against 
his fellow-planter ; all differences between Indians 
and colonists to be settled by a jury of twelve 
men, six of whom should be Indians ; and the 
natives were to have all the privileges of planting 
their grounds and providing for their families 
enjoyed by the colonists. 

Penn, in a letter to one of his friends, stated 
that in obtaining the charter for his province he 
had relied upon God's favor. *^ I have," he says, 
^^so obtained it, and desire that I may not be un- 
-vvorthy of his love, but do that which may answer 
his kind providence and serve his truth and peo- 
ple; that an example may be set up to the nations; 
there may be room there, though not here, for 
such an holy experiment'^ 

In another letter he mentioned an offer he had 
refused of six thousand pounds and an annual 
revenue for the monopoly of the Indian trade be- 
tween the Delaware and Susquehanna. " I will 
not abuse the love of God," he WTote, ^' nor act 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 43 

unworthy of his ])roviclence, and so defile wliat 
came to me clean. 'No ; let the Lord guide me 
by his wisdom and preserve me to honor his name, 
and serve his truth and people, that an example 
and standard may be set up to the nations ; there 
may be room there, though not here." 

In the autumn of 1681, three commissioners 
were appointed by the proprietary, with instruc- 
tions to proceed to the colony, make arrangements 
for a settlement, lay out a town, and treat with the 
Indians. 

The following letter to the Indians was intrusted 
to the commissioners : 

" London, 18th of 8tli month, 1681. 

" My Friends : — There is one great God and 
power that hath made the world and all things 
therein, to whom you and I, and all people, owe 
their being and well-being, and to whom you and 
I must one day give an account for all that we 
have done in the world. 

"This great God has written his laws in our 
hearts, by which we are taught and commanded 
to love and to help and to do good to one another. 
Now, this great God hath been pleased to make 
me concerned in your part of the world, and the 
king of the country where I live hath given me a 
great province therein, but I desire to enjoy it 



44 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

with your love and consent, that we may always 
live together as neighbors and friends, else what 
Avould the great God do to us who hath made us 
(not to devour and destroy one another, but) to 
live soberly and kindly together in the world? 
Now, I would have you well observe that I am 
very sensible of the unkindness and injustice 
which have been too much exercised towards you 
by the people of these parts of the world, who 
have sought themselves to make great advantages 
by you, rather than be examples of justice and 
goodness unto you. This I hear hath been a mat- 
ter of trouble to you, and caused great grudging 
and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of 
blood, which hath made the great God angry. 
But I am not such a man, as is well known in 
my own country. I have great love and regard 
toward you, and desire to win and gain your love 
and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable life, 
and the people I send are of the same mind ; and 
shall in all things behave themselves accordingly, 
and if in anything any shall offend you or your peo- 
ple, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for 
the same by an equal number of just men on both 
sides, that by no means you may have just occa- 
sion of being offended against them. 

" I shall shortly come to see you myself, at 
which time we may more largely and freely con- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 45 

fer and discourse of these matters. In the mean 
time I have sent my commissioners to treat with 
you about land and a firm league of peace. Let 
me desire you to be kind to them and to the peo- 
ple, and receive the presents and tokens which I 
have sent you as a testimony of my good-will to 
you, and of my resolution to live justly, peaceably 
and friendly with you. 

" I am your loving friend, 

"William Penn." 

The commissioners, with other emigrants, sailed 
in the autumn of 1681, and arrived at Upland 
(now called Chester) in the winter. They were 
well provided with stores, and the colonists al- 
ready there treated them with hospitality. 

The population of the province, exclusive of 
Indians, was then about two thousand souls, con- 
sisting mostly of Swedes and English, whose hab- 
itations were scattered along the western bank of 
the Delaware. 

The first constitution or frame of government 
agreed upon in England between the proprietary 
and others concerned in the first settlement is dated 
25th of April, 1682. It was published the follow- 
ing month, accompanied by a preface explanatory 
of the general principles of government. 



46 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

In this admirable paper he sliows that civil 
government has been ordained by Divine Provi- 
dence chiefly for two ends : " First, to terrify evil 
doers ; secondly, to cherish those that do well/\ . . 
" They weakly err/' he says, " who think there is 
no other use of government than correction, which 
is the coarsest part of it. Daily experience tells 
us, that the care and regulation of many other 
affairs, more soft and daily necessary, make up 
much the greatest part of government, and Avhich 
must have followed the peopling of the world, had 
Adam never fallen, and will continue among men 
on earth under the highest attainments they may 
arrive at by the coming of the blessed second 
Adam, the Lord from heaven." ..." I do not find 
a model in the world, that time, place, and some 
singular emergencies have not necessarily altered ; 
nor is it easy to frame a civil government that 
shall serve all places alike. I know what is said 
by the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy 
and democracy, which are the rule of one, of a few, 
and of many, and are the three common ideas of 
government when men discourse on that subject. 
But I choose to solve the controversy with this 
small distinction, and it belongs to all three : any 
government is free to the people under it, whatever 
be the frame, where the laws rule and the people 
are a party to those laws ; and more than this is 
tyranny, oligarchy or confusion.'^ 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 47 

"Governments rather depend upon men, than 
men upon governments. Let men be good and 
the government cannot be bad. If it be ill, they 
will cure it. But if men be bad, let the govern- 
ment be ever so good, they will endeavor to warp^ 
and spoil it to their turn. I know some say : Let 
us have good laws and no matter for the men that 
execute them. But let them consider, that though 
good laws do well, good men do better ; for good 
laws may want good men, and be abolished or 
evaded by evil men ; but good men will never 
want good laws, nor suffer ill ones.'\ . . '^That 
therefore which makes a^good constitution must 
keep it, namely, men of wisdom and virtue, quali- 
ties that, because they descend not with worldly 
inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a 
virtuous education of youth, for which after ages 
will owe more to the care and prudence of founders 
and the successive magistracy, than to their parents 
for their private patrimonies.'' 

" We have, with reverence to God and good 
conscience to men, to the best of our skill contrived 
and composed the frame and laws of this govewi- 
ment to the great end of all government, viz., to 
support power in reverence with the people, and 
to secure the people from the abuse of power, that 
they may be free by their just obedience, and the 
magistrates honorable for their just administration ; 



48 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

for liberty without obedience is confusion, and 
obedience without liberty is slavery/^ 

The constitution agreed upon in England, and 
intended to be submitted for acceptance or modifi- 
tcation, to the colonists in Pennsylvania, was liberal 
beyond any frame of government then existing. 
It placed the legislative and judicial departments 
in the hands of the people, who were to elect by 
ballot their representatives in tiie council and 
general assembly. The executive alone was hered- 
itary, in conformity with the provisions of the 
royal charter. 

The territory on Delaware Bay, which now con- 
stitutes the State of Delaware, had been granted by 
the king Charles II. to his brother James, Duke 
of York. After much negotiation, Penn obtained 
from the Duke two deeds of feoffment, by one of 
which he conveyed the town of New Castle and 
the country lying within a circle of twelve miles 
around it, and by the other he conveyed all the 
land on Delaware Bay from twelve miles south of 
New Castle to Cape Henlopen. For the first he 
was to pay the Duke the yearly rent of five shil- 
lings, and for the second ^^one rose at the feast of 
St. Michael the Archangel yearly, if demanded,'^ 
together with a moiety of all rents and profits 
thereof. 

In the year 1681, Penn became interested in 



Peace Piuxciples Exemplified. 49 

the property and government of East New Jersey, 
of which Elizabethtown was the capital. Sir 
George Cartaret, the former proprietary of this 
province, having died, it was sold under his will 
to pay his debts, and Penn became the purchaser 
on behalf of himself and eleven other persons. 
The twelve proprietaries soon after admitted 
twelve others, and to these twenty-four proprietaries 
the Duke of York made a fresh grant of East 
'New Jersey in the year 1682. They instituted a 
government called the Council of Proprietaries, 
whose meetings were held twice in the year at 
Perth-Amboy. 

William Penn, having made all his arrange- 
ments for a passage to Pennsylvania, embarked on 
the ship Welcome of 300 tons burthen, Robert 
Green way, master. On the eve of his departure, 
he addressed a beautiful letter to his wife and 
children, re[)lGte with instruction on their temporal 
affairs and spiritual welfare. In relation to his 
American possessions he says to his children : "As 
for you who are likely to be concerned in the gov- 
ernment of Pennsylvania and my parts of East 
Jersey, especially the first, I do charge you before 
the Lord God and his holy angels that you be 
lowly, diligent and tender, fearing God, loving 
the people and hating covetousness. Let justice 
have its impartial course, and the laws five passage. 



50 Peace Pbinciples Exemplified. 

Though to your loss, protect no man against it ; 
for yon are not above the law, but the law above 
you. Live, tlierefore, the lives yourselves you 
would have the people live, and then you have 
right and boldness to punish the transgressor. 
Keep upon the square, for God sees you : therefore 
do your duty, and be sure you see with your own 
eyes, and hear with your own ears. Entertain no 
lurchers, cherish no informers for gain or revenge ; 
use no tricks ; fly to no devices to support or cover 
injustice, but let your hearts be upright before the 
Lord, trusting in him above the contrivances of 
men, and none shall be able to hurt or supplant.'^ 

On the 27th of October, 1682, the ship Welcome 
arrived at New Castle, where William Penn and 
his fellow-passengers were joyfully welcomed by 
the inhabitants. On the 28th he met the people 
at the court-house, when he made a speech to the 
old magistrates, in which he explained to them the 
design of his coming, tlie nature and end of gov- 
ernment, and of that more particularly which he 
came to establish. 

The next day he was at Upland, accompanied 
by a number of his fri^ids. Addressing his friend 
Pearson, he said : ^' Providence has brought us 
here safe. Thou hast l)een the companion of my 
perils. What wilt thou that I should call this 
place ? " Pearson said, " Chester '' in reuiembrance 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 61 

of the city whence he came. Penn replied that it 
should be called Chester, and that wlien he divided 
the counties one of them should be called by the 
same name. 

Tradition relates that from Chester to Philadel- 
phia he went with some of his friends in an open 
boat or barge, and we can readily imagine how 
delighted he must have been while passing up the 
noble Delaware, beholding its banks shaded with 
majestic forests clad in all the varied foliage of 
autumn, its surface covered with wild fowl, and 
everything around indicating a solitude and grand- 
eur peculiar to the new world. After passing four 
miles above the mouth of the Schuylkill, they 
came to a place called Coaquannock, where there 
was a high bold shore covered with lofty pines. 
Here the site of the infant city of Philadelphia 
had been established, and we may be assured his 
approach was hailed with joy by the whole popu- 
lation ; the old inhabitants, Swedes and Dutch, 
eager to catch a glimpse of their future governor, 
and the Friends who had gone before him anx- 
iously waiting his arrival. 

There is a tradition connected with his arrival 
which is thus related by Watson : ^' The Indians 
as well as the whites had severally prepared the 
best entertainment the place and circumstances 
could admit. William Penn made himself 



52 Peace Piiin:cii^i.es Exemplified. 

endeared to tlie Iiullans by his marked conde- 
scension and acquiescence in their wishes. He 
walked w^ith them, sat with them on the ground, 
and ate with them of their roasted acorns and 
hominy. 

At this they expressed their great delight and 
soon began to show how they could hop and 
jump; at which exhibition, William Penn, to cap 
the climax, sprang up and beat them all. 

We are not prepared to credit such light gayety 
in a sage governor and religious chief; but we 
have the positive assertion of a woman of truth, 
who says she saw it. There may have been very 
wise policy in the measure as an act of concilia- 
tion, worth more than a regiment of sharp- 
shooters. He was sufficiently young for any 
agility, and we remember that one of the old 
journalists among the Friends incidentally speaks 
of him as having naturally an excess of levity of 
spirit for a grave minister. 

The site of Philadelphia had been determined 
by the commissioners, in conformity w^ith the pro- 
prietary's iiistruction, before his arrival, and some 
progress had been made in laying out the streets 
and building houses. Penn was well pleased with 
the location. In describing it he wrote as fol- 
lows; "The situation is a neck of land, and lieth 
between two navigable rivere, Delaware and 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 53 

Schuylkill, whereby it hath two fronts upon the 
water, each a mile, and two from river to river. 
DelaAvare is a glorious river ; hut the Schuylkill, 
being an hundred miles boatable above the falls, 
and its course northeast toward the fountain of 
the Susquehannah (that tends to the heart of the 
province and both sides our own), it is like to be 
a great part of the settlement of this age." . . . 
" This I will say for the good providence of God, 
that of all the many places I have seen in the world, 
I remember not one better seated ; so that it seems 
to me to have been appointed for a town, whether 
we regard the rivers or the conveniency of the 
coves, docks and springs, the loftiness and sound- 
ness of the land and the air, held by the people 
of those parts to be very good." 

Several changes were niade in the location and 
names of the streets after Governor Penn's ar- 
rival. Broad street, which is parallel with the 
Delaware, and lies nearly midway between that 
river and the Schuylkill, had not been located on 
the highest ground, and the governor had it 
changed to the top of the ridge, though nearer 
the Schuylkill, so that the public buildings in- 
tended to be placed tliere should overlook the 
whole city. Many of the streets had been named 
after prominent individuals among the colonists; 
for instance, what is now Walnut was first called 



54 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

Pool street, ^[iilberrv was Holmes street, Cliestimt 
\vas Union street, etc., which not being satisfac- 
tory to the proprietary, he gave tiie name of 
High street to the wide central avenue leading 
from river to river, aiid the main streets parallel 
with it he called after the names of forest trees 
found tliere. The cross streets were named ac- 
cording to their numbers, as Front, Second, Third, 
etc., beginning at each river and counting to 
Broad street.* He reserved in the middle of the 
city, at the intersection of High and Broad streets, 
a large square for public buildings, and for health 
and recreation, and in each of the four divisions 
of the city was a square for public walks. It 
was his intention and original plan not to permit 
buildings to be erected on the bank of the Del- 
aware, but to have there a wide proinenade the 
whole length of the city. This beautiful and 
salutary arrangement was, in after years, allowed 
to be infringed, and hence the crowded and irreg- 
ular streets that deform the eastern front of the 
city. 

After a -brief sojourn in Philadelphia and at- 
tending some meetings of Friends, Penn went to 
New York "to pay his duty to the Duke of York 

* Within a few years the names of the cross streets west of 
Broad liave been clianged, so that the numbers from that 

point are con?ecntiTe, to the SchTiylJdll.. 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 55 

by visiting his province.'^ Returning through 
East and West Jersey, he reached Pennsylvania 
near the end of November, then the ninth month. 
It is believed that about this time he held the 
treaty of amity with the Indians which has been 
so widely celebrated as the " Great Treaty under 
the Elm tree at Kensington." 

It is to be regretted that no circumstantial ac- 
count of this treaty is found in any contemporary 
record. An able memoir by Peter S. Du ponceau 
and J. Francis Fisher, presented to the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, and published in their 
third volume, part IL, gives by far the best ac- 
count of this transaction that is now extant. The 
place of meeting has, with much unanimity, been 
fixed at Shackamaxon, now called Kensington. 
It appears by ancient records that the name of this 
place was then written Sachamaxing, which signi- 
fies the place of kings, being derived from Sakima, 
which in the Delaware language means a king or 
chief. At least three Indian tribes were present : 
the Lenni Lenape, living near the banks of the 
Delaware, the Miirgoes, a tribe sprung from the 
Iroquois and settled at Conestogo, and the Shaw- 
nese, a southern tribe that had removed to the 
Susquehanna. There is reason to suppose that 
Governor Penn would be accompanied, as usual, 
by some members of his council as well as his 



56 Peace PmxcirLEs Exemplified. 

secretary'" and surveyor. Tradition relates that 
a number of prominent Friends were present, 
among whom was an ancestor of Benjamin West, 
whose portrait is introduced by the artist into his 
celebrated painting of the treaty scene. We must 
not take our idea of Penn's appearance from 
West's picture, in which he is represented as a 
corpulent old man, for at that time he was in the 
prime of life, being only thirty-eight years of age, 
robust and active, graceful in person and pleasing 
in manners. 

His favorite mode of travelling was by water. 
He kept a barge furnished with a sail, and manned 
by a boatswain, a cockswain and six oarsmen. 
His mansion at Pennsbury Manor was then being 
built ; it was near the Friends' settlenrent at the 
Falls and opposite Bordentown. Keeping in view 
these data, the scene may be imagined : Under 
the wide branching elm the Indian tribes are as- 
sembled, but all unarmed, for no warlike weapon 
is allowed to disturb the scene. In front are the 
chiefs, with their counsellors and aged men on 
either hand. Behind them, in the form of a half 
moon, sit the young men and some of the aged 
matrons, while beyond, and disposed in still widen- 
ing circles, are seen the youth of both sexes. 
Among the assembled chiefs there is one who 
holds a conspi(!Uous rank : the great Sachem Tarn- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 57 

inend, one of Nature's noblemen, revered for his 
wisdom and beloved for his goodness. 

Turning to the river, a barge is seen approach- 
ing, bearing at its mast-head the broad pennant of 
the governor. The oars are plied with measured 
strokes, and near the helm sits William Penn, at- 
tended by his council. Among them are Mark- 
ham, his secretary. Holme, surveyor-general, Sim- 
cox, Haigue, Taylor and Pearson. On the river 
bank, waiting with others to join them, is Lacy 
Cock, the hospitable Swede, whose dwelling is 
near the treaty ground. 

They pause when they approach the council 
fire. Taminend puts on his cliaplet, surmounted 
by a small horn, the emblem of kingly power ; 
and then, through an interpreter, he announces to 
William Penn that the nations are ready to hear 
him. 

Being thus called upon he begins his speech. 
_" The Great Spirit," he says, " who made me and 
you, who rules the heavens and the earth, and 
who knows the innermost thoughts of men, knows 
that I and my friends have a hearty desire to live 
in peace and friendship with you, and to serve 
you to the utmost of our power. It is not our 
custom to use hostile weapons against our fellow- 
creatures, for which reason we have come un- 
armed. Our object is not to do injury, and thus 
provoke the Groat Spirit, but to do good. 



58 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

^' We are met on the broad pathway of good 
faith and good will, so that no advantage is to 
be taken on either side, but all to be openness, 
brotherhood and love." Here the governor un- 
rolls a parchment containing stipulations for trade 
and promises of friendship which, by means of 
an interpreter, he explains to them, article by 
article, and placing it on the ground, he observes 
tliat the ground shall be common to both people. 
He then proceeds : " I will not do as the Mary- 
landers did, that is, call you children or brothers 
only, for parents are apt to whip their children 
too severely and brothers sometimes will differ, 
neither will I compare the friendship between us 
to a chain, for the rain may rust it, or a tree may 
fall and break it ; but I will consider you as the 
same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the 
same as if one man's body were to be divided 
into two parts.'' 

This speech being listened to by the Indians 
in perfect silence and with much gravity, they 
take some time to deliberate, and then the king 
orders one of his chiefs to speak to William Penn. 
The Indian orator advances, and in the king's 
name salutes him; then, taking him by the hand, 
he makes '^. speech pledging kindness and good 
neighborhood, and that the Indians and English 
must live in love as long as the sun and moon 
shall endure. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 5^ 

There is evidence to show that the stipulations 
of this treaty or league of amity were committed 
to writing, but the record has been sought without 
success. We have, however, the principal items 
or links of the chain as mentioned by Governor 
Gordon in a speech he made to the same tribes in 
the year 1728. He said : 

"My friends and brethren, you are sensible 
that the great William Penn, the father of this 
country, when he first brought the people with 
him over the broad sea, took all the Indians, the 
okl inhabitants, by the hand, and because he 
found them to be a sincere, honest people, he 
took them to his heart and loved them as his 
own. He then made a strong league and chain of 
friendship with them, by which it was agreed 
that the Indians and the English, with all Chris- 
tians, should be as one people. Your friend and 
father, William Penn, still retained a warm affec- 
tion for all the Indians, and strictly commanded 
those whom he sent to govern his people to treat 
the Indians as his children, and continued in this 
love for them until his death. . . . 

" I am now to discourse with my brethren, the 
Conestogoes, Delawares, Ganawese and Shawnese 
Indians, upon the Susquehanna : 

" My brethren : You have been faithful to 
your leagues with us, your hearts have been clean. 



60 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

and you have preserved the chain from spots or 
rust, or if there were any, you have been careful 
to wipe them away. Your leagues with your 
father, William Penn, and with his governors, are 
in writing on record, that our children and our 
chihlren's children may have them in everlasting 
remembrance. And we know that you preserve 
the memory of those things among you by telling 
them to your children, and they again to the next 
generation, so that they remain stamped on your 
minds never to be forgot. 

"The chief heads or strongest links of the 
chain I find are these nine, viz. : 

*' 1. That all William Penn's people or Chris- 
tians and all the Indians should be brethren, as 
the children of one father, joined together with 
one heart, one head and one body. 

" 2. That all paths should be open and free to 
both Christians and Indians. 

" 3. That the doors of the Christians' houses 
should be open to the Indians, and the houses of 
the Indians open to the Christians, and that they 
should make each other welcome as their friends. 

" 4. That the Christians should not believe any 
false rumors or reports of the Indians, nor the 
Indians believe any such rumors or reports of 
Christians, but should first come as brethren to 
inquire of each other ; and that both Christians 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 61 

and Indians, when they have any such false re- 
ports of their brethren, they should bury them as 
in a bottomless pit. 

" 6. That if the Christians heard any ill news 
that may be to the hurt of the Indians, or the In- 
dians heard any such ill news that may be to tlie 
injury of the Christians, they should acquaint each 
other with it speedily as true friends and brethren. 

^' 6. That the Indians should do no manner 
of harm to the Christians nor to their creatures, 
nor the Christians *do any hurt to the Indians, 
but each treat the other as brethren. 

" 7. But as there are wricked people in all na- 
tions, if either Indians or Christians should do 
any harm to each other, complaint should be 
made of it by the persons suffering, that right 
may be done; and when satisfaction is made, the 
injury or wrong should be forgot and be buried as 
in a bottomless pit. 

" 8. That the Indians should in all things as- 
sist the Christians, and the Christians assist the 
Indians against all wicked people that would dis- 
turb them. 

" 9. And lastly, that both Indians and Chris- 
tians should acquaint their children with this 
league and firm chain of friendship made between 
them, and that it should always be made stronger 
and stronger, and be kept bright and clean, with- 



62 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

out rust or spot, between our children and chil- 
dren's children, while the creeks and rivers run, 
and while the sun, moon and stars endure/' 

It may be asked why this treaty should have 
inspired so much interest as to make "its fame 
co-extensive with the civilized world?" The 
pre-eminent importance of the "great treaty" 
consists in this: it was the first time William 
Penn met the Indian chiefs in council, to make 
with them the firm league of friendship, which 
was never violated, and gave rise to a kindly in- 
tercourse between the Friends and the aborigines 
that continues to this day. It was like laying 
the corner stone of a great edifice, whose enduring 
strength and beautiful proportions have called 
forth the admiration of succeeding: ao^es. 

The whole conduct of Penn toward the Indians 
was founded injustice and love; he not only paid 
them for their lands, but he employed every 
means in his power to promote their happiness 
and moral improvement. The Indians, on their 
part, treated the colonists in the most hospitable 
manner, supplying them frequently with venison, 
beans and maize, and refusing compensation. 
For William Penn they felt and often expressed 
the utmost confidence and esteem. So great was 
the reverence inspired by his virtues, that his 
name was embalmed in their affections and handed 
down to succeeding generations. 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 63 

At a treaty held at Easton, in Pennsylvania, 
with the Indians, in 1756, in Governor Morris's 
administration, Teedyuscung, the Delaware chief, 
spoke as follows : *^ Brother Onas and the people 
of Pennsylvania, we rejoice to hear from yon that 
you are willing to renew the old good understand- 
ing, and that you call to mind the first treaties of 
friendship made by Onas, our great friend, de- 
ceased, with our forefathers, when himself and 
his people first came over here/^ 
♦ The name of Onas was given to William Penn 
by the Iroquois, whom the proprietary, and gen- 
erally the English, supported in their claim of 
superiority over the other Indian tribes. It 
seems that the Delawares adopted the name at 
least in their public speeches. Among themselves 
they called him, in their own language, Miquon. 
Both these words signify a quill or pen. 

It is certain that no other man ever attained so 
great an influence over their minds; and the af- 
fectionate intercourse between them and the in- 
habitants of Pennsylvania, which continued as 
long as the principles of the first colonists pre- 
served their ascendency, is the most beautiful ex- 
emplification afforded by history that the peace- 
able doctrines of Christ are adapted to secure the 
happiness of man. 

In the other colonies the aborigines were con- 



64 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

sidered as dangerous neighbors, inured to cruelty 
and delighting in blood. They had been ren- 
dered suspicious by the repeated injuries of the 
Avhites, and were undoubtedly brave and re- 
vengeful. Penn and his associates, relying on 
the purity of their motives and the protection of 
Divine Providence, came among them unarmed, 
professing the principle of non-resistance. The 
justice of his measures and the kindness of his 
deportment Avon their confidence and esteem ; the 
blood-stained tomahawk was buried, the tokens 
of peace were exchanged, and the ferocity of their 
nature was subdued by the tender, cementing 
influence of Christian love. 




CHAPTEE III. 

LEGISLATION AND INTERCOURSE WITH INDIANS. 
1682-1683. 

IN conformity with a summons from Governor 
Penn, a general assembly of representatives 
from the several counties met at Chester, on the 
4th of December, 1682. They chose Nicholas 
Moore for their speaker, and proceeded to deliber- 
ate on the constitution and laws agreed upon in 
England, and submitted for their consideration. 

A petition was presented from the inhabitants 
of tlie three lower counties, which now constitute 
the State of Delaware, ^' humbly desiring that they 
may be favored with an act of union by the gover- 
nor and assembly, for their incorporation with the 
province of Pennsylvania, in order to tlie enjoy- 
ment of all the rights and privileges of that prov- 
ince." The petition was granted, and an act of 
union passed which also provided for the naturali- 
zation of foreigners already settled in the province 
and territories. This act being approved by the 

65 



6Q Peace Principles Exemplified. 

governor, the Swedes deputed Lacy Cock to 
acquaint him that they would love, serve and obey 
him with all they had, declaring " it was the best 
day they ever saw/' 

An act of settlement was passed at the same time, 
which states that owing to the " fewness of the 
inhabitants, their inability in estate, and unskilful- 
ness in matters of government, three persons out of 
each of the six counties shall serve for a provincial 
council, and nine from each county for members 
of the assembly." 

In the same act some other changes in the con- 
stitution are provided for, but its main features 
and essential principles, as agreed upon in Eng- 
land, are preserved, and the humble acknowledg- 
ments of the assembly are expressed for it, with a 
promise that it shall be universally observed. 

At this session was passed the "Great Law,'' or 
code of laws, consisting of sixty-nine sections, 
which long formed the basis of jurisprudence in 
Pennsylvania. It embraces most of the laws 
agreed upon in England and some others after- 
wards suggested. Among the latter is a clause, 
attributed to the proprietary, requiring the estates 
of intestates to go to the wife and children, which, 
by abrogating the English law of primogeniture, 
was instrumental in promoting that general equal- 
ity of condition and division of property deemed 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 67 

so essential in a republican government. The 
first section of this code, being a noble testimony 
to reh'gious liberty, is here inserted entire : 

"Almighty God being the only Lord of con- 
science, Father of lights and spirits, and the 
Author, as well as object, of all Divine knowledge, 
faith and worship; who only can enlighten the 
mind, and persuade and convince the understand- 
ing of people in due reverence to his sovereignty 
over the souls of mankind : It is enacted by the 
authority aforesaid, that no person now, or at any 
time hereafter, living in this province, who shall 
confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be 
the Creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and 
that professeth him or herself obliged in con- 
science to live peaceably and justly under the civil 
government, shall in anywise be molested or preju- 
diced for his or her conscientious persuasion or prac- 
tice; nor shall he or she at any time be compelled 
to frequent or maintain any religious worship, 
place or ministry whatever, contrary to his or 
her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or 
her Christian liberty in that respect without any 
interruption or reflection ; and if any person shall 
abuse or deride any other for his or her different 
persuasion and practice in matter of religion, such 
shall be looked upon as a disturber of the peace, 
and be punished accordingly. 



68 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

"But to the end that looseness, irreligion and 
atheism may not creep in under pretence of con- 
science, in this province : Be it further enacted by 
the authority aforesaid, that according to the good 
example of the primitive Christians, and for the 
ease of the creation, every first day of the week, 
called the Lord's Day, people shall abstain from 
their common toil and labor, that whether masters, 
parents, children, or servants, they may the better 
dispose themselves to read the Scriptures of truth, 
at home, or to frequent such meetings of religious 
worship abroad as may best suit their respective 
persuasions.'' 

After a session of four days, the assembly ad- 
journed, affording an example of unanimity and 
despatch almost unexampled. 

According to the code of laws adopted by the 
general assembly, every man liable to civil bur- 
dens possessed the right of suffrage, and every 
Christian was eligible to office. No judicial oaths 
were required ; no tax or custom could be levied 
without authority of law. Stage-plays, bull-baits 
and cock-fights were prohibited. Murder was the 
only crime punishable by death. Selling spiritu- 
ous liquors to Indians to be punished by a fine of 
five pounds for every offelice. All prisons to be 
workhouses for persons convicted of crime. 

The laws were to be published and to be one 
of the books read in the schools. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 69 

The penal code, enacted by the colonists of 
Pennsylvania, was, in its humane provisions, far 
in advance of tlie age. Although by the charter 
the laws were subject to repeal when not consistent 
with the laAYS of England, they ventured to abolish, 
almost entirely, her sanguinary code, reserving 
the penalty of death for wilful murder only. It 
must be admitted, that even in this case, capital 
punishment was contrary to the principles of 
Friends, but perhaps the change they eflPected was 
as great as their dependent condition would allow, 
and, we have reason to believe, that the death- 
penalty was not inflicted. " Penn looked upon 
reformation as the great end of retributive justice.'^ 
. . " In pursuance of this idea he exempted from 
the infliction of death about two hundred offences 
which were capitally punished by the English 
law." * The sentiment expressed in his laws that 
every prison should be a work-house, and the 
humane regulations established for jails, gave rise 
t6 a new mode of punitive justice, the peniten- 
tiary system, in which Pennsylvania has taken 
the lead. 

A mild code of laws vigorously executed is the 
true policy of nations ; for it is not the severity 
but the certainty of punishment that deters from 

* J. R. Tyson's address on the 200th anniversary of the 
birth of Penn. 



70 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

the commission of crime. To provide the means 
of a good education for every child, and to see that 
all are taught some useful trade or profession, 
would do more for the promotion of peace and 
happiness than all the machinery of courts and 
prisons. 

When we take into view that Penn's con- 
stitution was then unparalleled for its excel- 
ence, and that he ever showed a willingness to 
alter it in accordance with the wants and capacities 
of the people, we shall find few if any other 
legislators in ancient or modern times who so 
richly merit the gratitude of posterity. 

"In the early constitutions of Pennsylvania 
are to be found the distinct annunciation of every 
great principle ; the germ, if not the development, 
of every valuable improvement in government or 
legislation, which has been introduced into the 
political systems of more modern epochs." * 

On the 10th of the first month (March), 1683, 
Penn met the provincial council at Philadelphia, 
and the assembly two days afterward. The coun- 
cil consisted of three members from each of the six 
counties, and the assembly of nine members from 
each county, agreeably to " the act of settlement," 
passed at the first session ; but some doubts having 
arisen about the constitutionality of this mode of 

* J. I. Wharton, " Watson's Annals," I., 314. - 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 71 

reducing the number of representatives, a mem- 
ber of the assembly moved, " That the governor 
may be desired that this alteration may not hinder 
the people from the benefit of the charter/' The 
governor answered that ^^ they might amend, alter 
or add for the public good, and that he was ready 
to settle such foundations as might be for their hap- 
piness and the good of their posterity, according 
to the powers vested in him." 

On the 20th, the governor and council desired 
a conference with the assembly about the charter, 
and then the question being asked by the governor, 
whether they would have the old charter or a new 
one, they unanimously desired that there might be 
a new one, with the amendment put into a law. 
A joint committee of the two houses was appointed 
to draft a new charter, which being done, it was 
read in council, and after some debate it was 
agreed to and signed by the governor, to whom 
the old charter was returned, with ^Uhe hearty 
thanks of the whole house." 

The second charter embraced the same princi- 
ples as the first, and much of it was in the same 
language; the number of delegates from each 
county was reduced to three for the council, and 
six for the assembly, with the privilege of each 
house being enlarged with the increase of inhabi- 
tants. The governor's treble vote was abolished, 



72 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

but tlie privilege of originating bills was still con- 
fined to the governor and council, who were 
required to publish the proposed bills before the 
meeting of the assembly. This feature was well 
adapted to the circumstances of an infant colony, 
as it saved much time in legislation, but it was 
subsequently changed, with the consent of the pro- 
prietary, by giving to the assembly, at their request, 
power to originate all legislative measures. 

By one of the acts passed at this time, provision 
was made for the appointment, at every county 
court, of three peace-makers, in the nature of com- 
mon arbitrators, to hear and determine all differ- 
ences between individuals. 

In grateful acknowledgment of the governor's 
services, and in consideration of his expenses in 
establishing the colony, the assembly granted him 
an impost upon certain imports and exports ; but 
he, with a generosity which he had afterward 
cause to repent, declined to avail himself of it for 
the present. 

After an harmonious session of twenty-one 
days, the assembly adjourned, having in this brief 
time not only amended the constitution and en- 
acted many new laws, but revised and confirmed 
the whole civil and criminal code. 

In the year 1683 Penn negotiated with the In- 
dians for the purchase of lands, and there are on 



Peace Peinciples Exempijfjed. 73 

record two deeds of that date from Indian chiefs 
for the confirmation of such sales. 

In one of the purchases of land made from 
the Indians it was stipulated that it should ex- 
tend " as far back as a man could walk in three 
days." Tradition relates that William Penn him- 
self, with several of his friends and a number of 
Indian chiefs, '^ began to walk out this land at 
the mouth of the Xeshaminy, and walked up the 
Delaware, that in one day and a half they got to 
a spruce tree near the mouth of Baker's creek," 
when Penn concluding this would include as much 
land as he would want at present, a line w^as run 
and marked from the spruce tree to Xeshaminy, 
and the remainder left to be walked out when it 
should be wanted for settlement. " It is said they 
walked 1 M*surely, after the Indian manner, sitting 
down sometimes to smoke their pipes, to eat bis- 
cuit and cheese and drink a bottle of wine. It is 
certain they arrived at the spruce tree in a day 
and a half, the wiiole distance rather less than 
thirty miles." 

The remainder of the line was not run till the 
20th of September, 1733, when the governor oi" 
Pennsylvania employed three of the fastest walk- 
ers that could be found, one of whom, Edward 
Marshall, walked in a day and a half the aston- 
ishing distance of eighty-six miles. The name 



74 Peace Pbinciples Exemplified. 

of William Penn has by some persons been un- 
justly coupled with this disgraceful transaction, 
which did not take place till many years after his 
death. The Indians felt themselves much ag- 
grieved by this unfair admeasurement of their 
lands ; it was the cause of the first dissatisfaction 
between them and the people of Pennsylvania, 
and it is remarkable that the first murder com- 
mitted by them in the province, seventy-two 
years after the landing of Penn, was on this very 
ground which had been taken from them by 
fraud. 

During the year 1683 the provincial council 
held its meetings in Philadelphia; it was con- 
vened very frequently, and the minutes show that 
William Penn always presided. 

Among its judicial proceedings was a trial for 
witchcraft, the only one on the records. This 
appears to have originated among the Swedes, 
who probably brought with them from their 
native land some of the Scandinavian supersti- 
tions. The persons accused were Margaret Matt- 
son and Yeshro Hendrickson. Lacy Cock acted 
as interpreter between them and the governor. 
The following is a sample of the testimony : 
Henry Drystreet, attested, saith, "he was told 
twenty years ago, that the prisoner at the bar 
was a witch, and that several cows were be- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 75 

witched by her/' Annaky Coolin, attested, saith, 
^^ that her husband took the heart of a calf, that 
had died as they thought by witchcraft, and boiled 
it, whereupon the prisoner at the bar came in 
and asked them wliat they were doing ; they said 
boiling of flesh ; she said they had better have 
boiled the bones, with several other unseemly ex- 
pressions." The governor gave the jury their 
charge, of which, it is to be regretted, there is no 
record. "The jury went forth, and upon their 
return brought her in guilty of the common 
fame of being a witch, but not guilty in manner 
and form as she stands indicted." 

This verdict probably gave a quietus to all 
accusations of witchcraft, which in that day were 
believed by many and in Massachusetts had led 
to melancholy results. 

In the year of Penn's arrival and during the 
two years next succeeding, ships with emigrants 
arrived from London^, Bristol, Ireland, Wales, 
Cheshire, Lancashire, Holland and Germany to 
the number of fifty sail. "The news spread 
abroad," says Bancroft, "that William Penn, the 
Quaker, had opened an asylum to the good and 
the oppressed of every nation, and humanity 
went through Europe gathering the children of 
misfortune. . . . There is nothing in the history 
of the human race like the confidence which the 



76 Peace Pkikciples Exemplified. 

simple virtues and institutions of William Penn 
inspired/' 

The progress of the colony in population was 
remarkably rapid, and the fruits of industry soon 
became everywhere apparent. In three years 
from its foundation Philadelphia gained more 
than New York had done in half a century. ■ 

The colonists, in their native land, had been 
mostly husbandmen, tradesmen and mechanics. 
Among them were some good scholars, but gener- 
ally their education was limited, and their man- 
ners were simple, hearty and unceremonious. 
jMany of them had good estates, and were well 
provided with all the comforts that could be had 
in a new country. Some brought with them 
frames of houses ready to be set up, others built 
cabins of logs and covered them with clapboards. 
Huts covered with bark and turf were made to 
shelter them while building their houses, and 
excavations made in the bank of the Delaware at 
Philadelphia, called caves, served for temporary 
dwellings of the poorer class. 

A large proportion of the colonists being mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends, their first care was 
to establish meetings for worship and discipline. 
In a letter from Friends in Pennsylvania to their 
brethren in Great Britain, written in 1683, they 
mention three meetings for worship in Bucks 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 77 

county, two in Philadelphia county and four in 
Chester county. They had three monthly meet- 
ings for discipline, and expected soon to have a 
yearly meeting. As to their temporal condition 
they say, " Blessed be God, we are satisfied ; our 
lot is fallen every way in a goodly place, and the 
love of God is and growing among us, and we 
are a family at peace among ourselves, and truly 
great is our joy therefor." 

Fowl, fish and venison were plenty. The wild 
pigeons came in such numbers that the air was 
sometimes darkened by their flight; and flying 
low, tliose who had no other means to take them 
sometimes supplied themselves by throwing at 
them as they flew, and salted up what they could 
not eat. 

The Indians were remarkably kind to the colo- 
nists, supplying them with such provisions as 
they could spare, and were otherwise serviceable 
in many respects. 

^*John Chapman, having settled in the woods 
the farthest back of any English inhabitants, 
found the Indians very kind to his family, as 
well as to the other settlers that came after him, 
often supplying them with corn and other pro- 
visions. His twin sons, Abraham and Joseph 
Chapman, then about nine or ten years old, going 
out one evening to seek their cattle, met an Indian 



78 Peace Piunciples Exemplified. 

in the woods, who told them to go back or they 
would be lost. Soon after this they took his advice 
and went back, but it was within night before 
they got home, where they found the Indian, who 
being careful lest they should lose themselves, 
had repaired thither in the night to see. And 
their parents about that time going to the yearly 
meeting at Philadelphia and leaving a young fam- 
ily at home, the Indians came e\ery day to see 
whether there was anything amiss among them."* 

In the spring or summer of 1683 William 
Penn made a journey to the interior of his prov- 
ince, during which he made himself more fully 
acquainted with its surflxce, soil and natural pro- 
ductions, and he visited the Indians in their wig- 
wams, with whom he learned to converse in their 
own languao-e. 

The result of his observations was communi- 
cated in a very interesting letter to the Free Soci- 
ety of Traders, t 

He found the climate, soil and natural produc- 
tions very satisfactory. The fruits he found in 
the woods were the white and black mulberry, 
chestnut, walnut, plums, strawberries, cranber- 
ries, hurtleberries and grapes of divers sorts. 

"•^ " Smith's History of Pennsylvania," and " Proud's His- 
tory of Pennsylvania." 
t See the Letter in '* Janney's Life of William Penn." 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 79 

" Peaches/^ he says, ^^ are in great quantities ; not 
an Indian plantation without them ; but whether 
naturally here at first I know not. The woods 
are adorned with lovely flowers, for color, great- 
ness, figure and variety." 

His account of the Indians relates to their per- 
sons, language, manners, religion and govern- 
ment, with conjectures concerning their origin. 
The limits of this work will only allow the selec- 
tion of a few passages. 

" For their persons, they are generally tall, 
straight, well-built, and of singular proportion. 
They tread strong and clever, and mostly walk 
with a lofty chin." . . . " They grease themselves 
with bear's fat clarified, and using no defence 
against sun and weather their skins must needs 
be swarthy." 

" Their language is lofty, yet narrow, but like 
the Hebrew in signification, full. Like short- 
hand in writing, one word serveth in the place of 
three, and the rest are supplied by the understand- 
ing of the hearer. Imperfect in their tenses, 
wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, con- 
junctions, interjections. I have made it my busi- 
ness to -understand it that I might not want an 
interpreter on any occasion, and I must say that 
I know not a language spoken in Europe that 
hath words of more sweetness or greatness in 
accent and emphasis than theirs." 



80 Peace Pkixciples Exemplified. 

^^ In liberality they excel. Nothing Is too good 
for their friend. Give them a fine gun, coat or 
other thing, it may pass twenty hands before 
It sticks; light of heart, strong affections, but 
soon spent; the most merry creatures that live. 
They feast and dance perpetually ; they never 
have much, nor want much. Wealth circulateth 
like blood. All parts partake ; and though none 
shall want what another hath, yet exact observers 
of property. Some kings have sold, others pre- 
sented me with several parcels of land. The 
pay or presents I made them were not hoarded 
by the particular owners, but the neighboring 
kings and their clans being present when the 
goods were brought out, the parties chiefly con- 
cerned consulted what and to whom they should 
give them. To every king then, by the hands of 
a person for that work ap})ointed, is a proportion 
sent, so sorted and folded, and with that gravity 
which is admirable. Then that king subdivided 
it in like manner among his dependents, they 
hardly leaving themselves an equal share with 
one of their subjects ; and be it on such occa- 
sions as festivals, or at their common meals, the 
kings distribute, and to themselves last." 

" They eat twice a da}^, morning and evening ; 
their seats and table are the ground. Since the 
Europeans came into these parts, they are grown 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 81 

great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially, 
and for it exchange the richest of their skins and 
furs. If they are heated with liquor, they are 
restless till they have enough to sleep. That is 
their cry, ' Some more, and I will go to sleep ; ' 
but when drunk, one of the most wretched spec- 
tacles in the world'.'' 

" These poor people are under a dark night in 
things relating to religion ; to be sure the tradi- 
tion of it, yet they believe a God and immortality 
without the help of metaphysics; for they say 
there is a great king that made them who dwells 
in a glorious country to the sou tli ward of them, 
and that the souls of the good shall go thither, 
v/here they shall live again." 

"Their government is by kings, which they call 
sachama, and these by succession, but always on 
the mother's side. For instance, the children of 
him who is now king will not succeed, but his 
brother by the mother, or the children of his sis- 
ter, whose sons (and after them the children of her 
daughters) will reign, for no woman inherits. 
Every king hath his council, and that consists of 
all the old and wise men of his nation, which per- 
haps is two hundred people. Nothing of moment 
is undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land or 
traffic, without advising with them, and, which is 
more, with the young men too. It is admirable 



82 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

to consider how powerful the kings are, and yet 
liow they move by the breath of the people. I 
have had occasion to be in council with them 
upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of 
trade. '' 

" They speak little, but fervently and Avith 
elegance. I have never seen more natural saga- 
city." ..." And he will deserve the name of 
Avise who outwits them in any treaty about a 
thing they understand. When the purchase was 
agreed, great promises passed between us of kind- 
ness and good-neighborhood, and that the English 
and Indians must live in love as long as the sun 
gave light, which done, another made a speech to 
the Indians in the name of the sachamakers or 
kings, first to tell them what was done, next to 
charge and command them to love the Christians, 
and particularly to live in peace with me and the 
people under my government, that many govern- 
ors had been in the river, but tliat no governor 
had come himself to live and stay here before, 
and having now such an one, who had treated 
them well, they should never do him or his any 
wrong ; at every sentence of which they shouted 
and said ^Amen' in their wav.'' 



CHAPTEE lY. 

THE BOUNDARY QUESTION — REVOLUTION IN 
ENGLAND. 

1684-1689. 

ONE of the subjects that caused the greatest 
solicitude in the mind of William Peun 
during his first sojourn in his colony, was a con- 
troversy with the proprietary of Maryland in 
relation to boundaries. To obtain an amicable 
adjustment of the matter in dispute, he had two 
interviews with Lord Baltimore, who treated him 
with courtesy and respect, but they could not 
agree, and there appeared to be no alternative but 
to refer the whole subject to the legal tribunals in 
England. In the meantime Lord Baltimore sent 
an agent to make a formal demand of all the 
country south of the fortieth degree of north lati- 
tude, both in the province of Pennsylvania and 
the territories annexed ; and this not being acceded 
to, a party from Maryland under the command of 
Colonel George Talbottj in the spring of 1684, made 

83 



84 Peace Principees Exempeified. 

forcible entry on several plantations in the lower 
counties. He came within five miles of New 
Castle, and there erected a fort of the bodies of 
trees, raised a breastwork and palisaded the same 
and placed armed men therein. The mayor of 
that town, to^^ether with the sheriff and mao:is- 
trates, went to the fort and demanded of Colonel 
Talbott the reason of his proceedings, being a 
warlike invasion of the right of his majesty's sub- 
jects never in his possession. He answered them, 
after having bid them stand off (presenting guns 
at their breasts), that he had the Lord Baltimore's 
commission for what he did. 

The governor and council at Philadelphia sent 
a copy of Penn's answer to Lord Baltimore's 
demand, showing the grounds of their refusal, and 
at the same time took legal measures to reinstate 
the persons who had been dispossessed, and if 
necessary to have the invaders prosecuted accor- 
ding to law. 

''Lord Baltimore claimed by his charter the 
whole country as far as the fortieth degree. Penn 
replied, just as the Dutch and the agents of the 
Duke of York had always urged, that the charter 
of Maryland included only lands that were still 
unoccupied ; that the banks of the Delaware had 
been purchased, appropriated and colonized before 
that charter was written. For more than fifty 



Peace PrviNCiPLEs Exemplified. 85 

years the country had been in the hands of the 
Dutch and their successors, and during that whole 
period the claim of Lord Baltimore had always 
been resisted. The answer of Penu was true, and 
conformed to English law as applied to the 
colonies." * 

The claim set up by Lord Baltimore, if success- 
ful, would have taken all the lands on the western 
side of the Delaware from the city of Philadelphia 
to the capes ; it w^ould have given Maryland the 
command of Delaware Bay; and would have 
deprived Penn of several valuable seaports. The 
peaceable course he pursued was in striking con- 
trast with the warlike demonstration of Colonel 
Talbott. 

About the time these events occurred, William 
Penn found it incumbent on him to return to 
England. He received advice that the members 
of his society in the mother country were suffering 
under severe persecution on account of their 
religion ; their meetings were broken up by 
armed troops, and many hundreds of men and 
women, separated from their families, were con- 
fined in noisome prisons, where some had remained 
for years and others were released only by death. 
He had reason to believe that his personal 

* "Bancroft's History of United States/' II., 388. See 
" Janney's Life of Penn," for a full statement of the controversy. 

8 



86 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

influence and exertions might be instrumental to 
mitigate their suiferings. 

The controversy respecting the boundaries of 
Pennsylvania and Maryland was soon to be 
brought before ^' the Lords of the Committee of 
Trade and Plantations.'' Lord Baltimore had 
already gone over to urge his claim ; it was there- 
fore highly important that Penn should be present 
to protect his own interests and those of the 
province. In addition to these considerations, 
we may reasonably conclude, that his desire to 
join his family, from which he had been separated 
nearly two years, Avas not least among the motives 
that determined him to return to England. 

Having determined to embark in the Ketch 
Endeavor, he commissioned the provincial council 
to act in his stead, of which Thomas Lloyd was 
president, to whom he intrusted the keeping of 
the Great Seal. Nicholas Moore, Wm. Welch, 
Wm. Wood, Robt. Turner, and John Eckley were 
commissioned as provincial judges for two years; 
his cousin. Colonel Markham, was secretary, and 
James Harrison his steward, had charge of his 
house and manor at Pennsbury. His arrange- 
ments being completed, he embarked on the 12th 
of the sixth month (August), 1684, greatly to the 
regret of the whole country, for he had by his uni- 
form justice and kindness endeared himself to all. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 87 

After a passage of about seven weeks he landed 
within sev^en miles of his own residence. Having 
enjoyed some days of rest and refreshment at 
home, he went to wait upon the king and duke, 
who received him very graciously. He found that 
the government was less favorably disposed to- 
wards religious liberty than it had been before he 
left the country — it was "sour and stern, and 
resolved to hold the reins of power with a stiffer 
hand than heretofore, especially over those who 
were observed to be church or state dissenters.'' 
He concluded, however, to take his old post as an 
advocate of liberty of conscience, and was an in- 
strument of great good in pleading the cause of 
the oppressed. 

The question relating to boundaries between the 
colonies of Lord Baltimore and William Penn 
was brought before the committee of trade and 
plantations, and after both parties had been fully 
heard, "it was decided that the tract of Delaware 
did not constitute a part of Maryland." 

By an order of council dated 13th of November, 
1685, it was decided that the lands intended to be 
granted by the Lord Baltimore's patent were only 
cultivated and inhabited by savages, and that the 
part then in dispute was inhabited and planted 
by Christians, at and before the date of the Lord 
Baltimore's patent, as it had been ever since to that 



88 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

time and continued as a distinct colony from that 
of Maryland.'^ It was therefore ordered that 
" for avoiding further difference/' the tract of land 
between the river and bay of Delaware, and 
Chesapeake Bay be divided into two equal parts. 

The line designated by this order is the bound- 
ary between the States of Delaware and Maryland, 
but the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
notwithstanding the many efforts made by Penn 
for its adjustment, continued in dispute during the 
reipainder of his life, and was not finally settled 
until the year 1762, when it was run by "two 
ingenious mathematicians,'' Charles Mason and 
Jeremiah Dixon, who came from England for 
that purpose; hence it is called Mason and 
Dixon's line. 

In the winter of 1684-5, King Charles II. died 
of apoplexy, and his brother, James, Duke of 
York, peaceably succeeded to the throne under the 
title of James II. James, while Duke of York, 
had for many years been the friend and patron 
of William Penn, whom he admitted to terms 
of familiar intercourse, not usual between a prince 
and a subject. This partiality on the part of the 
duke arose, in the first place, from his great regard 
for Admiral Penn ; and was, doubtless, confirmed 
and augmented by the agreeable manners and 
excellent qualities of his son. After his accession 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 89 

to the throne he continued to manifest the same 
regard, which as it gave Penn ready access to the 
royal closet, enabled him to use his influence for 
the relief of many, both of his own and other re- 
ligious persuasions, who were suffering for con- 
science sake. 

Soon after the accession of James II. the friends 
petitioned for the release of upwards of 1400 of 
their members of both sexes imprisoned in 
England and Wales, only for worshipping God 
according to their sense of duty and for con- 
scientiously refusing to swear. Their liberation 
did not take place for a year after their case was 
brought before the king, and there is reason to 
believe it was then done chiefly through the 
personal influence and intercession of William 
Penn. Some of these patient sufferers for the 
cause of trutii had been twelve or fifteen years and 
upwards in prison. 

While Penn was engaged in obtaining an 
adjustment of boundaries and pleading the cause 
of religious liberty in England, his friends in 
Pennsylvania were pushing forward their im- 
provements in building and planting, and per- 
forming their novitiate in legislation. The 
increase of population continued to be rapid, the 
colony was peaceful and prosperous ; but among 
those concerned in the government there were 



90 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

some jealousies and dissensions, which being 
reported to the proprietary, with much exaggera- 
tion, called forth his paternal admonition. 

The provincial council was too large a body to 
perform with efficiency the executive functions 
intrusted to them ; they neglected to comply with 
the instructions of the proprietary, and he came 
to the conclusion to change the form of the execu- 
tive. He accordingly appointed in the 12th 
month, 1686, five commissioners, any three of 
whom w^ere authorized to act on his behalf. Their 
names were Thomas Lloyd, Nicholas Moore, 
James Claypole, Robert Turner and John Eckley. 
Their appointment seems to have been attended 
with a happy effect; their administration was 
prudent, steady and efficient. Nothing further 
of note occurs in the history of the province 
in the succeeding two years, during which 
the colonists enjoyed the blessings of domestic 
tranquillity. 

In the meantime Penn was frequently in attend- 
ance on the king advising him to measures of 
clemency, moderation and justice, which would 
have established his throne, but the infatuated 
monarch took counsel from bigoted priests and 
venal courtiers, and was led to pursue an arbitrary 
and oppressive course which alienated the affections 
of his people. In addition to other unpopular 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 91 

measures, his open profession of the Roman 
Catholic religion and the favor he showed the 
priests produced great dissatisfaction among his 
Protestant subjects. 

The king's son-in-law, William, Prince of 
Orange, being a Protestant, and having the confi- 
dence of the English people, was invited by many 
of the nobility and gentry to come and assume the 
reins of government. He came, and was joined 
by persons of the highest rank — part of the king's 
army deserted to his standard — and the popular 
feeling was so strongly manifested in his favor 
that the king, in the year 1688, abdicated his 
throne and retired to France. 

The convention having declared the throne 
vacant, the Prince and Princess of Orange were 
crowned in 1689, as joint sovereigns, under the 
title of William and Mary. 

Soon after the revolution in England, the situa- 
tion of William Penn became critical in the 
extreme; the influence he had possessed in the 
late reign was now turned against him ; he was 
regarded by many as being disaffected to the 
government, a Jesuit in disguise, and an enemy 
to the Protestant cause. To withdraw to Penn- 
sylvania, where he knew his presence was needed, 
would subject him to the imputation of having 
fled to escape punishment, and thus give color to 



92 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

the aspersions of his enemies. To remain was 
hazardous, but honorable, and therefore he deter- 
mined to stay and pursue his usual avocations. 

While walking in Whitehall, he was sent for by 
the lords of the council then sitting. In reply to 
their questions he assured them, " he had done 
nothing but what he could answer before God and 
all the princes in the world ; that he loved his 
country and the Protestant religion above his life, 
and never acted against either; that all he ever 
aimed at in his public endeavors was no other 
than what the prince himself had declared for; 
that King James was always his friend, and his 
father's friend, and in gratitude he was the king's, 
and did, ever as much as in him lay, influence him 
to his true interest." 

Although nothing appeared against him, he 
was required to give sureties for his appearance 
the first day of the next term. At the next term 
his case was continued to the Easter term follow- 
ing, when nothing being laid to his charge he was 
cleared in open court. 

In the year 1689, the Act of Toleration was 
passed by Parliament and approved by the king. 
This act provided that none of the penal laws 
should be construed to extend to those dissenters 
who should take the oaths to the present govern- 
ment, and a clause was inserted for the relief of 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 93 

the Society of Friends, accepting from them, 
instead of the oaths, a solemn promise to be faith- 
ful to the king and queen. So great had been the 
progress of public sentiment, that a bill abolishing 
the tests, by which dissenters were excluded from 
])arliament, was, in conformity with the king's 
wishes, passed by the House of Commons, but it 
was rejected by the peers. There can be no 
doubt that the sufferings of the Friends and other 
dissenters were instrumental in preparing the 
minds of the people for this salutary change in the 
policy of the government ; but to Penn more 
than to any other man must it be attributed. 
His numerous publications in its favor had been 
silently operating, while the liberal policy of his 
own government, and the remarkable prosperity 
of his province, must have exerted a considerable 
influence on the public mind. 

In Pennsylvania, Thomas Lloyd, a minister of 
the Society of Friends and a man of excellent 
character and abilities, had for some years been 
performing the executive functions of the govern- 
ment, first as president of the council and after- 
wards as chairman of the commissioners ; but 
becoming weary of public affairs he requested to 
be released from the burden, to which William 
Penn, by a letter written in 1687, reluctantly con- 
sented. As no other Friend, pi'operly qualified, 



94 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

was found willing to accept- the office of deputy 
governor, William Penn appointed to that station 
Captain John Blackwell, who had formerly held 
an important trust under the British government, 
and was highly recommended for his virtue and 
fidelity. In Penn's letter of instructions, dated 
1688, he directs Governor Blackwell to send him 
a copy of the laws, which he had often requested 
before, but in vain ; to be careful that speedy and 
impartial justice be done, to see that the widow, 
the orphan and the absent be particularly regarded 
in their rights; to have a special care that the 
sheriffs and clerks of the peace impose not upon 
the people, and finally, " to rule the meek meekly, 
and those that will not be ruled, rule with au- 
thority." 

Governor Blackwell met the assembly in the 
third month 1689, but by reason of some misun- 
derstanding or dissension between him and some 
of the council, the public affairs w^ere not transacted 
in harmony, and but little business was done 
during his administration, which lasted only until 
the twelfth month, when, by the advice of Penn, 
he resigned and returned to England. One cause 
of disagreement was, the governor's attempt to 
raise a militia, which being a warlike measure 
inconsistent with the principles of the colonists, 
was resisted by them. 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified." 95 

The people of Pennsylvania and the neighboring 
Indian tribes had lived on terms of the most 
cordial friendship, and each had performed many 
kind offices for the other; but in the year 1688, 
the inhabitants of Philadelphia and places adja- 
cent were alarmed with the report of an intended 
insurrection of the Indians to cut off all the 
English on a certain appointed day. This was 
conimunicated by an Indian w^oman of West 
New Jersey, to an old Dutch inhabitant near 
Chester, and was soon after corroborated by 
another rumor that three families about nine miles 
from that place had actually been destroyed. It 
w^as also said that five hundred Indians w^ere 
collected in pursuance of their design to kill the 
English. 

When these alarming reports reached Philadel- 
phia the council w^as in session, and Caleb Pusey, 
one of its members, a Friend in high standing, 
from Chester county, offered to go to the place 
where the Indians were said to be assembled, 
provided the council would appoint five others to 
go with him unarmed. This being agreed to, 
they immediately proceeded thither on horseback, 
but instead of meeting five hundred warriors, as 
was reported, they found the old king quietly 
lying on his bed, the women at work in the fields 
and the children at play. When they entered the 



96 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

wigwam, the king asked tlieni very mildly what 
they all came for ? They told him the report which 
the Indian woman had raised, and asked whether 
the Indians had anything against the English ? 
He appeared much displeased at the report and 
said : " The woman ought to be burnt to death ; 
and that they had nothing against the English ; '^ 
adding: ^^'Tis true there are about fifteen pounds 
yet behind of our pay for the land that William 
Penn bought, but as you are still on it and im- 
proving it to your own use, we are not in haste 
for our pay ; but when the English come to settle 
it, we expect to be paid/^ This the messengers 
assured him should be done. One of the company 
further expressed himself to this effect : ^'That as 
the great God, who made the world and all things 
therein, consequently made all mankind, both 
Indians and English, so his love was extended to 
all ; which was plainly shown by his causing the 
rain and dew to fall on the ground of both Indians 
and English alike, that it might equally produce 
what each of them planted on it, for the sustenance 
of life. And also, by his making the sun to shine 
equally on all, both Indians and English, he 
manifested his love to all, so they were mutually 
bound to love one another." The king answered^ 
" What you say is very true, and as God has given 
you corn, I would advise you to get it in (it 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 97 

being then harvest time) ; for we intend you no 
harm." 

The return of the messengers dispelled the fears 
of the peo[)le, and the result evinced the wisdom 
of the policy uniformly pursued by the friends of 
William Penn. 
9 




CHAPTER Y. 

TROUBLES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. 
1689-95. 

"TTTHILE the colonists of Pennsylvania were 
^ ^ peacefully pursuing their industrial occu- 
pations, enjoying the blessings of civil and religious 
liberty, and founding in the wilderness an asylum 
for the oppressed of every land, the nations of 
Europe professing the Christian name were 
involved in a fierce conflict of arms, spreading 
desolation and distress over populous countries. 
AYars were waged on account of religion in which 
all the principles of Christianity were set at 
naught, and wars to maintain the balance of power 
in Europe wasted the blood and treasure of the 
English people, without any adequate returns. 

William Penn writing to his friends in Penn- 
sylvania, in the Tenth month, 1689, after exhorting 
them to the exercise of Christian charity, thus 
continues ; " For matters here ; as to myself I am 
well and free ; and for the church of God liberty 
98 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 99 

continues. But in the nations of Europe, great wars 
and rumors of wars, such as have not been almost 
from the beginning, suns are turning into darkness 
and moons into blood ; for the notable day is at 
the door.''. . ." Sanctify therefore the Lord in your 
hearts ; be satisfied in him, and in your lot, and 
walk worthy of his daily mercy, and care over you." 

In the year 1690, Penn was again brought 
before the lords of the council upon an accusation of 
holding a correspondence with the late King James; 
and they requiring sureties for his appearance, he 
appealed to King William himself, who after a 
conference of nearly two hours, inclined to acquit 
Iiim; but to please some of the council, he was 
lield upon bail, for a while, and in Trinity-term 
the same year was again discharged. 

He was attacked a third time, and 'his name in- 
serted in a proclamation wherein he, with eighteen 
other persons, were charged with adhering to the 
king's enemies, but no proofs of the charge being 
found, he was again cleared by order of the court 
of the Kings-bench, at Michaelmas-term, 1690. 

Being now at liberty he proposed to go a 
second time to Pennsylvania, and published pro- 
posals, for a second settlement there, which 
probably was designed to be on the Susquehanna. 
His plans were again frustated by a fresh accusa- 
tion against him founded on the oath of William 



100 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

Puller, who was afterwards declared by Parlia- 
ment "a cheat and a notorious impostor." A 
warrant being issued for Penn's apprehension, he 
narrowly escaped being arrested at his return from 
the funeral of George Fox, who was buried in 
London on the 16th of the Eleventli month of 
1690-91. In writing to the widow, on the 13th, 
who was in Lancashire, he said : " I am to be the 
teller to thee of sorrowful tidings, in some respect 
which is this : that thy dear husband and my 
beloved and dear friend, finished his glorious 
testimony this night, about half an hour after nine, 
being sensible to the last breath. Oh! he is gone, 
and has left us in the storm that is over our heads, 
surely in great mercy to him, but as an evidence 
to us of sorrow to come.'^ 

On being informed of this fresh accusation, 
Penn thought it most prudent to postpone his 
departure, for should he leave England while he 
was under suspicion and subject to arrest, his 
removal would be construed by his enemies as an 
evidence of his guilt. He therefore took private 
lodgings in London and lived in seclusion. Here 
he devoted himself to study, to writing and reli- 
gious meditations ; being also frequently visited by 
his friends, among whom were John Locke and 
others eminent for their worth. 

While the proprietary of Pennsylvania was 
compelled by false accusations to forego his 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 101 

cherished purpose of returning thither, as his per- 
manent home, the affairs of his colony were 
suffering for want of his paternal care. The three 
lower counties, called the territories, now consti- 
tuting the State of Delaware, had at the request of 
their inhabitants been united with the province 
under one government, allowing to every county 
an equal number of representatives. During the 
absence of Penn some jealousies had crept in between 
them ; the province was large, its population w./ s 
rapidly increasing, and it must have been manifest 
to all that the balance of power would soon pre- 
ponderate in its favor. For this reason some of 
the inhabitants of the territories began to think 
they had distinct and even conflicting interests, 
which led to a misunderstanding. 

On Governor Blackwell's resignation, the 
executive duties devolved on the council, and 
Thomas Lloyd, not being willing to refuse his 
assistance in this emergency, acted again as pres- 
ident. In order to compose all differences, Penn 
proposed three forms of executive power, and left 
to the decision of the council which should be 
adopted — either the council, five commissioners, 
or a deputy-governor. The majorit}^ favored a 
deputy-governor, and were satisfied with Thomas 
Lloyd, but the council men from the territories 
preferred the five commissioners, and finding 



102 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

themselves outnumbered, withdrew from tlie coun- 
cil, and returned home. Thomas Lloyd sent a 
deputation to New Castle to confer with them, but 
his efforts to reconcile them were unavailing. 

The proprietary, with much reluctance, submitted 
to the separation, and commissioned Thomas Lloyd 
as governor of" the province. William Markham, 
who appears to have gone with the seceders, was 
placed over the territories as their executive. 

Although Penn had consented with great 
reluctance to this arrangement, it answ^ered beyond 
liis expectations in restoring harmony ; and as 
both parties were sensible that he had been grieved 
at their dissensions, they endeavored to relieve his 
mind by a joint letter from the two deputy- 
governors and the members of council, expressive 
of their affection and of their earnest desire for his 
return to the province. 

About the time these political changes were 
effected, dissensions of a far more painful tendency 
arose in relation to the doctrines and discipline of 
the Society of Friends. The dispute originated 
Avith George Keith, a prominent minister and an 
author of several religious works. Pie was a 
Scotchman, had lived much in England, had 
travelled with Penn on the continent, and was 
employed for one year as the principal teacher in 
the public school at Philadelphia, 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 103 

He had been much respected, but now appeared 
ambitious of greater distinction as a leader in the 
society, proposing and urging new regulations in 
its discipline, complaining that there was *^too 
great a slackness therein,^' and accusing some of 
the most valued ministers of preaching false 
doctrines, although it was thought they preached 
the same views he had formerly advocated in his 
writings. Another objection urged by him against 
some of the most influential members was the part 
they took in the government of the province, 
alleging that, by acting as magistrates and 
executing the penal laws against malefactors, they 
violated their principles. The last of these 
charges had reference principally to the course 
pursued in arresting a privateer, named Babbitt, 
who took a sloop from the wharf at Philadelphia, 
proceeded down the river and committed several 
robberies. A warrant being issued for his appre- 
hension, Peter Boss and some others pursued him 
in a boat and took him and his crew without any 
warlike weapon. 

At length Keith having set up a separate 
meeting in Philadelphia, and being in the practice 
of defaming the characters of Friends, the meeting 
of ministers disowned him, which act was con- 
firmed by the yearly meetings of Burlington and 
London, He and Thomas Budd were presented 



104 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

by the grand-jury of Philadelphia for defaoiiiig 
Samuel Jennings, a provincial judge, and being 
found guilty, were fined five pounds each. These 
fines, however, were never exacted. The meetings 
set up by Keith and his adherents threatened to 
make a formidable schism in the society, but he 
having gone to England, was ordained by the 
Bishop of London, and returned to Pennsylvania 
a clergyman in orders. This conduct so disgusted 
his followers, that many of them returned to the 
society, and the schism was finally healed. 

The political and religious dissensions which for 
a while disturbed the tranquillity of colonial life in 
Pennsylvania, being communicated to William 
Penn, increased the burden of his cares and 
occasioned much solicitude, which he expressed 
in affectionate letters to his friends in the colony. 

In the autumn of 1692, a commission was 
granted by the sovereigns, William and Mary, to 
Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York, 
directing him to take under his jurisdiction the 
province of Pennsylvania, and the territories 
annexed. This step was urged by the enemies 
of the proprietary as necessary for the safety of 
the colony. It was said that the French and 
Indians threatened the frontier settlements, that 
no defence had been provided by the colonial 
government, and that the province and the terri- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 105 

tories being at variance, no efficient administra- 
tion of the laws could be expected. They did 
not fail to adduce the religious dissensions among 
the Friends as another reason why they were unfit 
to govern, and the prosecution against Georgg 
Keith, for defamation, being misrepresented by 
his party, was triumphantly held up as an evidence 
that the Quakers as well as others could persecute 
for religion. 

William Penn was sorely tried — his troubles 
seemed to increase and press upon him with ac- 
cumulated weip-ht. Cast down from a hio^h and 
honored station in society, accused of being an 
enemy to the government and to the Protestant 
cause, impoverished by expenditures for his 
province, and now that province, the object of 
his hopes, withdrawn from under his government, 
there was needed but one drop more to fill the 
measure of his afflictions. That drop too was 
added. His wife, one of the loveliest and best of 
women, was visibly sinking in health, and her 
decline was attributed to intense anxiety, induced 
by her husband's calamities. 

But although perplexed with care, and bur- 
dened with grief, he was not forsaken ; having 
the solace of an approving conscience, and an 
abiding trust in the providence of God, who 
often permits his servants to be tried in the fur- 



106 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

nace of affliction, in order to perfect their refine- 
ment; who removes from them the attractions 
of the world, in order to draw them nearer to 
liimself, and when they have relinquished all 
other dependence, manifests that the arm of his 
power is sufficient to uphold them, and to cause 
"all things to work togetlier for their good.'^ 

In the latter part of the year 1693, through 
the intercession of some noblemen, who had long 
been his friends, the case of William Penn was 
again brought before King William, who, being 
satisfied of his innocence, signified his wish that 
he should consider himself entirely at Hberty. 

His wife, who had tenderly sympathized with 
him in all his trials, was permitted to see him 
again restored to liberty ; but in the following 
month she was removed by death, and he was 
again plunged into a depth of affliction, wdiich 
could be alleviated only by the consolations of 
religion and the lenient hand of time. 

During Penn's seclusion from the world, which 
continued nearly three years, his vigorous and 
active mind was not unemployed. He wrote a 
number of religious works, one of which is en- 
titled, "Some Fruits of Solitude in Peflections, 
and Maxims relating to the Conduct of Human 
Life." This work embraces a compendium of 
practical vvisdom that has seldom been equalled in 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 107 

the same compass, being: the result of much ex- 
perience in the affairs of life, and deep reflection 
on its cares and vicissitudes. 

In the preface he alludes, in the spirit of a true 
Christian, to his seclusion from the world: 

" Reader : — This enchiridion I present thee 
with is the fruit of solitude, a school few care to 
learn in, though none instructs us better. Some 
parts of it are the results of serious reflection, 
others the flashing of lucid intervals, written for 
private satisfaction, and now published for an 
help to human conduct. The autlior blesseth 
God for his retirement, and kisses that gentle 
liand which led him into it; for though it should 
prove barren to the world, it can never do so to 
him. He has now had some time he could call 
his own — a property he was never so much 
master of before — in which he has taken a view 
of himself and the world, and observed wherein 
he has hit or missed the mark; what might have 
been done; what mended and what avoided in 
human conduct; together with the omissions and 
excesses of others, as well societies and govern- 
ments as private families and persons.'^ 

.William Penn produced at this time another 
work of great value and importance, entitled. 



108 Peace Piunciples Exemplified. 

"An Essay towards the Present and Future 
Peace of Europe, by the Establishment of an 
European Diet, Parliament, or Estates/' It was 
written in the year 1695. In the first section he 
refers to the bloody wars then being waged in 
"Hungary, Germany, Flanders, Ireland, and at 
sea: the mortality of sickly and languishing 
camps and navies, and the mighty prey the 
devouring winds and waves have made upon 
ships and men since the year 1688." He draws 
a contrast between the misery entailed by war, 
and the blessings conferred by peace, and then 
proceeds to show " the means of peace, which is 
justice rather than war." "Government is an 
expedient against confusion." It is instituted for 
the prevention or cure of disorder and the punish- 
ment of crime, in order that men may not be 
judges of their own cause or avengers of their 
own wrongs. As in civil society, individuals 
and corporations submit their differences to the 
decision of courts established and governed by 
law ; so should the nations of Europe establish a 
tribunal and enact laws for the settlement of in- 
ternational disputes. The fourth section, contain- 
ing the gist of the essay, is here subjoined : 

" Of a general peace, or the peace of Europe 
and the means of it. 

"In my first section I showed the desirable- 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 109 

ness of peace ; in my next the truest means of it, 
viz., justice, and not war. And in my last, that 
this justice was the fruit of government, as 
government itself was the result of society, 
which first came from a reasonable design of men 
of peace. Now if the sovereign princes of Europe 
who represent that society, or independent state 
of men that was previous to the obligations of 
society, would, for the same reason that engaged 
men first in society, viz.. Love of Peace and 
Order J agree to meet by their stated deputies in a 
General Diet, Estates, or Parliament, and there 
establish rules of justice for sovereign princes to 
observe one to another ; and thus to meet yearly, 
or once in two or three years at farthest, or as 
they shall see cause, and to be styled. The Sover- 
eign or Imperial Diet, Parliament, or State of 
Europe ; before which sovereign assembly should 
be brought all differences depending between one 
sovereign and another that cannot be made up by 
private embassies before the session begins, and 
that if any of the sovereignties that constitute 
these imperial states shall refuse to submit their 
claim or pretension to them, or to abide and per- 
form the judgment thereof and seek their remedy 
by arms, or delay their compliance beyond the 
time prefixed in their resolutions, all the other 
sovereignties, united as one strength, shall compel 
10 



110 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

the submission and performance of the sentence, 
with damages to the suffering party, and charges 
to the sovereignties that obliged their submission. 
To be sure, Europe would quietly obtain the so 
much desired and needed peace to her harassed 
inhabitants ; no sovereignty in Europe having 
the power, and, therefore, cannot show the will, 
to dispute the conclusion, and consequently peace 
would be procured and continued in Europe.'^ 

The proposal embraced in this essay excited 
much interest at the time of its publication, and 
has since been frequently referred to by the ad- 
vocates of universal peace. It contains sugges- 
tions leading to a peace policy which has recently 
been more fully developed by enlightened thinkers 
in Europe and America, as expressed in the con- 
ventions of the friends of peace at Paris, Brussels, 
Frankfort, and The Hague. 

Since the time of Penn, some progress has been 
made: the principles of international law are 
better understood, the power of public opinion in 
controlling legislation has greatly increased, and 
constitutional governments are more numerous. 

The only objectionable feature in the plan pro- 
posed by Penn is the coercive power to be exer- 
cised in compeUlng the refractory sovereigns to 
abide by the decisions of the General Diet. If 
the compulsion should be exercised by force of 



Peace Principles Exemplified. Ill 

arms- — bombarding their cities, devastating their 
country, and killing their people — it would be 
such a departure from the principles of peace 
and good-will to men, as would frustrate the 
whole design. But if the compulsory measures 
should be, to put the refractory government under 
the ban of public opinion throughout the world, 
to declare non-intercourse until a reconciliation 
could be effected, or to withhold the advantages 
of commercial reciprocity, there could be no 
reasonable objection to such compulsory measures, 
and they would probably be sufficient. 

Public opinion has been called the queen of 
the world ; its power in controlling legislation is 
great and increasing. In order that it may exer- 
cise a salutary influence, it must be enlightened 
by general education and the inculcation of Chris- 
tian principles. The admiration of military 
glory must be discountenanced, the spirit of re- 
taliation must be supplanted by the Christ-like 
spirit of forgiveness, and the narrow sentiment 
of patriotism should be merged in the nobler 
sentiment of universal brotherhood. 

The Christian church is responsible for the 
continuance of the barbarous custom of war, 
which is utterly repugnant to the precepts and 
example of the Messiah. This sentiment is 
forcibly expressed in the following passage from 



112 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

Sumner's eloquent "Oration on the True Grandeur 
of Nations:'' 

"It cannot be doubted that this strange and 
unblessed conjunction of the Christian clergy 
with war has had no little influence in blinding 
the world to the truth now beginning to be recog- 
nized, that Christianity forbids the ivhole custom 
of war. 

"Individual interests are mingled with pre- 
vailing errors, and are so far concerned in main- 
taining them, that it is not surprising how re- 
luctantly military men yield to this truth. They 
are naturally like lawyers, as described by Vol- 
taire, ^the conservators of ancient barbarous 
usages,' but that these usages — especially that the 
impious Trial by Battle — should obtain counte- 
nance in the Christian church, is one of those 
anomalies which make us feel the weakness of 
our nature and the elevation of Christian truth. 
It is important to observe as the testimony of 
history that for some time after the Apostles, 
while the lamp of Christianity burnt pure and 
bright, not only the Fathers of the church held 
it unlawful for Christians to bear arras ; but those 
who came within its pale abstained from their use, 
although at the cost of life, thus renouncing not 
only the umpirage of war, but even the right of 
self-defence. Marcel 1 us, the Centurion, threw 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 113 

down his military belt at the head of the legion, 
and in the face of the standards declared, with a 
loud voice, that he would no longer serve in the 
army, for he had become a Christian ; others fol- 
lowed his example. It was not until Christianity 
became corrupted, that its followers became sol- 
diers, and its priests learned to minister at the 
altar of the God of Battles." 




CHAPTER YI. 

COLONIAL AFFAIRS AND PENN's SECOND MAR- 
RIAGE. 

1693-1701. 

COLONEL BENJAMIN FLETCHER, 
governor of New York, was commissioned 
by the king and queen as governor of Pennsyl- 
vania, in the autumn of 1692, but did not receive 
the commission until some months later. In the 
spring of 1693, he notified Governor Lloyd, of 
Pennsylvania, that he intended to assume the 
reins of government, and accordingly he came to 
Philadelphia, for that purpose, attended by a mili- 
tary retinue. Notwithstanding the separation of 
the territories from the province, he summoned 
the representatives of both to meet him in Phila- 
delphia. In this writ the charter and laws of 
Pennsylvania were disregarded, the number of 
delegates being diminished, and the time and form 
of the election changed. 

The first business proposed to the assembly, by 

114 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 115 

the governor, was a requisition from the queen for 
aid, in men and money, to defend the frontiers of 
New York against the incursions of the French 
and Indians. The war then existing between 
France and England, growing out of the accession 
of William and Mary to the throne, had extended 
its ravages to their colonies in North America, and 
the French commanders in Canada had resorted to 
the barbarous expedient of subsidizing the Indians 
and inciting them to murder their English neigh- 
bors. A predatory warfare ensued, in which the 
colonies of New England and New York were 
chiefly engaged in repelling the savages, who sur- 
prised and destroyed Schenectady and some other 
frontier settlements. The alliance of the Mengwe, 
or Five Nations (Iroquois), was sought by both 
parties, and finally secured by the English at great 
expense, to defray which, in part, was the object 
of the subsidy now demanded. 

The assembly resolutely asserted its privileges, 
but finally passed a bill imposing a tax of a penny 
a pound on the clear value of real and personal 
estate and a poll-tax of six shillings a head, which 
they presented to the king and queen with a 
request that " one-half thereof might be allowed to 
the governor.'' Fletcher at first refused the bill 
because nothing was granted for the defence of 
New York, and he even threatened to annex Penn- 



116 Peacp: Principles Exemplified. 

sylvania to that province; but finally he approved 
this as well as other bills that were presented to 
him, and confirmed the laws before existing in the 
colony. He then dissolved the assembly by their 
own advice, and, having appointed William Mark- 
ham lieutenant-governor, departed for New York. 

The following year, 1694, Governor Fletchei 
made another requisition for aid to New York ; 
but, having found by experience that it was in 
vain to expect military supplies from men who 
Avere conscientiously opposed to war, he requested 
of them means to clothe and feed the Indians in 
order to secure their continued friendship to the 
provinces. The assembly laid a tax similar to 
that imposed the previous year, which amounted 
to seven hundred and sixty pounds; but they 
stipulated for. the payment of two hundred pounds 
each to Thomas Lloyd and William Markham for 
their services while acting as deputies of the pro- 
prietary, and the remainder to be appropriated to 
the general expenses of the government. ^' Fletcher 
rejected the bill, and the assembly, asserting their 
right to appropriate their money at their pleasure, 
was dissolved.'^ 

Soon after this, the government was restored to 
William Penn, by a patent from the king and 
queen, dated August, 1694. Plis application to be 
reinstated had been warmly seconded by some of 



Peace Phinciples Exempijfied. 117 

liis friends among the nobility, who represented 
to the king and council that the disorders charged 
upon the province had been greatly exaggerated 
by report, and even so far as true, had been occa- 
sioned by the proprietary's absence. He was now 
earnestly desirous of removhig to the province; 
but the situation of his domestic affairs, and prob- 
ably the state of his finances, obliged him to 
defer it. 

In the autumn of 1694, he appointed Captain 
William Markham, his lieutenant-governor; 
Thomas Lloyd, his former governor, having died 
a few months previously. In the death of Thomas 
Lloyd the colony lost one of its most beloved and 
honored citizens. He was one of the few who, 
being qualified by abilities and virtue for the 
highest stations in society, yet through modesty or 
humility decline them, until urged by the public 
voice and called by a sense of duty to accept the 
post of trust and honor. He was the only one 
among the many deputies, employed by Penn, 
whose administration gave satisfaction to both the 
proprietary and the people. 

Governor Markham, disregarding the laws of 
Pennsylvania, pursued Fletcher's plan of calling 
the assembly, and having, without their consent, 
dissolved both the council and assembly, they, at 
their next meeting in 1696, made a spirited remon- 



118 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

strance against his encroachments, and succeeded 
in obtaining his consent to a ^' bill of settlement,'^ 
whereby the jiower of the assembly was increased, 
being authorized to originate bills, to adjourn and 
reassemble at pleasure, and to be indissoluble during 
the time for which they were elected. In return 
for these concessions they passed a bill to raise three 
hundred pounds for the support of government and 
the relief of the distressed Indians in New York. 

The appointment of Markham, as governor, was 
in accordance with a promise Penn had made to 
the committee of trade and plantations, that he 
would "appoint the same person to be his deputy- 
governor " who was then serving under Colonel 
Fletcher, and to satisfy the colonists he appointed 
two Friends, John Goodson and Samuel Carpenter, 
assistants of Markham, in the administration. 

From the time William Penn was reinstated In 
his government, until his arrival in the province 
in 1699, a period of five years, there are no inci- 
dents of importance on record concerning the 
colony. During this period, the paucity of mate- 
rials for history may be considered an evidence of 
domestic tranquillity, and there is reason to believe 
that the colonists of Pennsylvania then enjoyed a 
degree of prosperity and happiness that seldom 
falls to the lot of humanity. 

In the spring of 1696, William Penn was mar- 



Peace PmNCiPLES Exemplified. 119 

ried to his second wife, who was Hannah, the 
daughter of Thomas Callovvhill, and granddaugh- 
ter of Dennis Hollister, both eminent merchants 
of Bristol and members of the Society of Friends. 
She proved to be a true help-meet for him, being 
a woman of superior understanding and great 
prudence. 

About five weeks after this event, he experi- 
enced another vicissitude from joy to grief, in tlie 
death of his eldest son, Springett Penn, who died 
of consumption in the 21st year of his age. He 
was a young man of great promise, concerning 
whom his father has left a touching memorial. 

After Penn's restoration to his proprietary 
rights, there was, in the public mind, a reaction in 
his favor, and he rose higher than ever in the 
estimation of his friends. He travelled as a min- 
ister in England and Ireland, his meetings being 
attended by large crowds to whom he preached 
with acceptance the Gospel of Christ. 

In the summer of 1699, he prepared to fulfil 
his long-cherished purpose of removing with his 
wife and daughter to Pennsylvania for a perma- 
nent residence. On the 9th of the 7th month 
(September, O. S.), 1699, he sailed in the ship 
*' Canterbury " from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, 
having two days previously addressed, from on 
board the ship, an epistle to the members of 



120 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

his own religious society, which concludes as 
follows : 

" I must leave you, but I never can forget you ; 
for my love to you has been even as David's and 
Jonathan's, above the love of women : and suffer 
me to say that, to my power, I have from the 
first endeavored to serve you (and my poor coun- 
try), and that, at my own charges, with an upright 
mind, however misunderstood and treated by some, 
whom I heartily forgive. Accept you my services ; 
and ever love and remember, my dear friends and 
brethren, your old, true, and affectionate friend, 
brother, and servant in Christ Jesus, 

"William Penn." 

Previous to his embarkation, the Friends in 
England gave him three certificates addressed to 
the meetings of Friends in Pennsylvania, which 
may be seen in the first Book of Records of Phila- 
delphia monthly meeting. These documents show 
that he was in full unity with the meetings of his 
own society, and greatly beloved among them. 
The first certificate is from the " Meeting of Minis- 
tering Friends '' in London ; which, after alluding 
to his eminent services in the gospel ministry, his 
successful efforts in pleading the cause of the 
oppressed, his tribulations, arising from the malice 



Peace Piiinciples Exemplified. 121 

of his enemies, and his meekness in forgiving them, 
concludes by stating that he parted with their 
meeting in great love, and was in true unity as an 
approved minister of Christ. The second is from 
the " Men's Meeting of Friends, in the city of 
Bristol," and the third, from the monthly meeting 
at Horsham, England, both of which express in 
strong terms their unity Vv^ith him in the bonds of 
Christian love. 

After a tedious voyage of more than three 
months, the ship arrived at Chester, on the 1st 
day of the Tenth month (December, O. S.), 1699. 
Having exchanged salutations with his friends in 
Chester, Penn proceeded in the ship to Phila- 
delphia, where he was greeted by the inhabitants 
with joy and respect. The city had lately been 
visited by the yellow fever, which carried oif many 
of the inhabitants, and spread a general gloom over 
the community. 

Before the landing of Penn and his family the 
fever had ceased, and nothing could have been 
better adapted to dispel the gloom that remained 
than the long-desired arrival of their beloved and 
venerated governor. 

Among the passengers who came over with 
Penn, in the ship '^ Canterbury," was James Logan, 
whom he had engaged to accompany him to Penn- 
sylvania as his secretary. Logan wes a man of 
11 



122 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

great abilities and learning. He acted a conspicu- 
ous and useful part in the affairs of the colony, as 
secretary of the province, commissioner of property, 
for some time president of the council, and after- 
wards chief-justice of Pennsylvania. 

The governor and his family, with his secretary, 
went, on their arrival, to lodge at Edward Ship- 
pen's, where they remained about a month. Penn 
then took a house, known as the slate-roof house, 
on Second street, between Chestnut and AYalnut, 
at the southeast corner of Norris's alley. Here 
was born, about two months after their arrival, 
his son John, the only one of his children born in 
this country, and therefore called " the American.^^ 

Soon after his arrival Penn met the assembly, 
when the chief business transacted was the passage 
of two laws for the suppression of piracy and illicit 
trade. 

In the First month of the year 1700 he attended 
the monthly meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, 
and laid before them his concern for the Avelfare 
of the negroes and Indians, which, he said, had 
long engaged the attention of his mind. He ex- 
horted the members to the full discharge of their 
duty towards these people ; but more especially in 
regard to their spiritual improvement; that they 
might have the advantage of attending religious 
meetings, and the benefit of being duly instructed 



Peace Phinciples Exemplified. 123 

in the Christian reh's^ion. Hence a meetincr was 
appointed more especially for the negroes once 
a month, and means were used to have more 
frequent meetings with the Indians, Penn taking 
part of the charge upon himself, particularly 
the manner of holding it, and the procuring of 
interpreters. 

It appears on the colonial records that Governor 
Penn, in the spring of 1700, brought before the 
provincial council a law for regulating the mar- 
riages of negroes, which was approved by that 
body, but lost in the popular branch. It is stated 
that ^* he mourned over the state of the slaves, but 
his attempts to improve their condition by legal 
enactments were defeated in the house of assem- 
bly." The rise and progress of the testimony 
against slavery in the Society of Friends is a sub- 
ject of much interest, evincing in its gradual de- 
velopment and ultimate triumph the certainty and 
safety of Divine guidance. George Fox was one 
of the earliest to call the attention of his brethren 
to this subject. While in Barbadoes, in the year 
1671, he advised those who held slaves '^to train 
them up in the fear of God," to cause their over- 
seers to deal mildly and gently with them, and 
after certain years of servitude to set them free. 
In the year 1688 the subject of slavery was brought 
before the yearly meeting of Pennsylvania and 



124 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

I^ew Jersey, by some German Friends residing at 
Germantown, among whom Francis Daniel Pas- 
torius was the most prominent. It was at that 
time not thought proper for the meeting to give a 
positive judgment, but the subject was revived 
frequently in after years, and the more it was 
examined the greater appeared to be the evil of 
slaveholding, until, after nearly a century of 
patient labor, it was made a disownable oifence by 
the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, in the year 1776. 
The same year that the American Congress pro- 
claimed the equal and inalienable rights of man 
in the Declaration of Independence, the Society 
of Friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey gave 
freedom to their skives, and even ])rovided some 
remuneration for their unrequited toil. It is an 
interesting fact that many of the Friends who 
manumitted their slaves were not satisfied to send 
them forth empty-handed from the house of 
bondage, but made them such reparation as justice 
recjuired. In some meetings committees were ap- 
pointed to ascertain the amount that was equitably 
due from the master to the slave. 

William Penn at one time owned a few slaves, 
whom he liberated, as appears by a will he made 
in 1701, w^hich is still extant, and contains this 
clause : " I give to my blacks their freedom, as is 
under my hand already^ and to old Sam 100 acres, 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 125 

to be his children's, after he and his wife are dead, 
forever/'* 

In the spring or summer of 1700 Governor 
Penn, with his family, removed to Pennsbury 
Manor, his favorite place of residence. This 
beautiful estate was situated in Bucks county, four 
miles above Bristol, on the river Delaware. It 
comprised six thousand acres of fertile alluvial 
soil, mostly covered with majestic forests, there 
being at that time only ten acres under cultivation. 
The mansion was commodious and well furnished; 
it had on the first floor a large hall, used on pub- 
lic occasions for the meeting of the council, and 
the entertainment of strangers and the Indians. 

Tradition relates that on one occasion, when he 
made a feast for his red brethren, a long table was 
spread for them in the avenue leading to the 
house, which was shaded by poplars, and among 
the viands provided were one hundred turkeys, 
besides venison and other meats. 

In the spring of 1701 a treaty was made by 
Governor Penn, and some members of his council, 
with the Susquehanna Indians, for the preserva- 
tion of peace, and the confirmation of titles to 
land conveyed in former treaties. It appears that 
Penn, before he returned to England in 1684, had 
taken measures to purchase the lands on the 

* See " Janney's Life of Penn," chap. xxxi. 



126 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

Susquehanna from the Five Nations (Iroquois), 
who claimed the right to them by conquest. These 
Indians resided principally in New York, and the 
purchase was effected through Tliomas Dungan, 
governor of New York, who conveyed the same to 
Penn by deed, dated January 13, 1696, in consider- 
ation of £100 sterling. The Susquehanna Indians 
did not recog^nize the rio-ht of the Five Nations to 
make this sale, and in order to satisfy their de- 
mands, Penn entered into a treaty with two of 
their chiefe, whose deed, dated September 13, 
1700, conveys the same lands, and confirms the 
sale made to Governor Dungan. But it appears 
there was still another chief claiming an interest 
in those lands, viz., Connoodaghoh, king of the 
Conostoga or Minquay Indians. To satisfy this 
claim Governor Penn and his council entered into 
a treaty of amity in Philadelphia, by Avhich the 
sale of the lands on the Susquehanna was for the 
third time confirmed. 

The conciliatory course pursued in dealing with 
these several tribes of Indians was eminently wise, 
for even in an economical point of view the peace 
policy of the Friends was more advantageous than 
the war policy often pursued in the other colonies. 

For the prevention of abuses that were too fre- 
quently put upon the Indians, it was resolved in 
council that no person should be allowed to trade 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 127 

with them but such as Penn and his successors 
should approve and furnish with a license under 
his hand and seal. And, moreover, it was resolved 
that a company be formed to take proper measures 
to inspire the Indians with a true esteem of the 
Christian religion by setting before them good 
examples of probity and candor, both in commerce 
and behavior; and that ^'care should be taken to 
have them duly instructed in the fundamentals of 
Christianity.'^ 

At this time the people of the province and 
territories were under apprehensions of depreda- 
tions being committed by pirates, who were said 
to be numerous on the coast ; and in order to 
guard against them a watchman was stationed at 
Cape Henlopen, in the county of Sussex, who was 
to give notice to the feheriif of the county when 
any suspected vessel entered the capes, and the 
sheriffs of the several counties were to send the 
information by express till it should reach the 
governor at Philadelphia. 

In the Sixth month, 1701, the governor con- 
vened the assembly in order to lay before them a 
letter from the king, requiring a contribution of 
£350 sterling, toward erecting forts on tihe fron- 
tiers of New York. He made them a short 
speech expressive of his regret that he was obliged 
to call them too;ether sooner than he intended. 



128 Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 

^' But," he says, " the king's commands, by his 
letter to me now, have brought you hither at this 
time, which I now lay before you, and recommend 
to your serious consideration, since without it, it 
will be impossible to answer them." This requi- 
sition being for a warlike purpose, was extremely 
repugnant to the feelings both of the governor 
and assembly. He felt compelled by his fealty to 
the king to lay the letter before them, but in ab- 
staining from expressing his own views he en- 
deavored to cast the responsibility on the repre- 
sentatives of the people. They were thrown into 
a state of painful embarrassment; for if they 
refused the subsidy, they had reason to dread the 
displeasure of the British government ; but most 
of the members being opposed to war, and repre- 
vsenting a constituency who were chiefly Friends, 
they could not comply without a violation of their 
religious principles. After some days spent in 
deliberation they sent their answer in writing, de- 
clining to comply with the king's requisition, 
assigning; as a reason, the taxes already levied, 
and the quit-rents due. They stated, moreover, 
that the adjacent colonies had done nothing in the 
matter, ^and therefore they postponed it to another 
session, desiring that the proprietary would repre- 
sent their condition to the king, and assure him 
of their readiness to comply with his commands, 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 129 

" as far as their religious persuasions would per- 
mit/' The members for the territories made a 
separate answer, alleging that the lower counties, 
though most exposed, were in a defenceless con- 
dition, being without arms or ammunition, and 
having neither militia, nor officers appointed to 
command them. They prayed, therefore, to be 
excused froln "contributing to forts abroad while 
they were unable to build any for their own de- 
fence at home." This answer shows that the 
members from the territories were " less imbued 
with the principles of Friends in relation to war 
than those of the province, and doubtless this was 
one cause of their frequent disagreements, for the 
pacific policy of Penn could only be carried into 
practice by persons thoroughly convinced of its 
feasibility. 

The governor, having received the assembly's 
answer to the king's letter, dismissed it; but little 
more than two weeks elapsed before he received 
information from England which made it neces- 
sary to issue writs for the immediate election of 
another. He learned from the letters of his 
friends, that " strenuous endeavors were used by 
several united interests to procure an act of Parlia- 
ment for annexing to the crown the several pro- 
prietary governments, for which purpose a bill 
was then before the House of Lords, wdiich had 



130 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

been twice read^ and though not likely to pass that 
session, there was no hope of staving it off longer 
than the next, unless the proprietary would make 
his appearance in person, and answer the charges 
brought against his government by evil-minded 
persons.'^ His friends in England urged the 
necessity of his coming with as little delay as 
possible; the welfare of the province, as well as 
his own interest, seemed to require it, and he re- 
luctantly consented to leave his adopted country 
to appear once more at his old post near the 
J3ritish court. 

A new assembly having been elected, met in 
Philadelphia the 15th of the Seventh month, 
1701, when the governor addressed them in a 
speech, expressing his regret that he was obliged 
to call them together so frequently, and stating the 
business which then required their attention on 
the eve of his departure for England. After ex- 
pressing his reluctance to leave the country where 
he had promised himself a quiet home, and his 
intention to return and settle his family there, he 
thus continued : '^ Think, therefore, since all men 
are mortal, of some suitable expedient and pro- 
vision for your safety, as well in your privileges 
as property, and you will find me ready to com- 
ply with whatever may render us happy by a 
nearer union of our interest. Review again your 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 131 

laws, propose new ones that may better your cir- 
cumstances ; and what you do, do it quickly, 
remembering that the Parliament sits the end of 
next month, and that the sooner I am there the 
safer/^ 

While the assembly was in session, and the 
governor busily engaged in preparations for his 
departure, he was visited in Philadelphia by the 
sachems of the Susquehanna and Shawnese Indians, 
who, with some of their people, had qome to take 
leave of him. He received them with his wonted 
cordiality, and informed them that " This was 
like to be his last interview with them, at least 
before his return ; that he had ever loved and 
been kind to them, and ever should continue so to 
be, not through interest or politic design, but out 
of real affection ; and he desired them, in his ab- 
sence, to cultivate friendship with those he should 
leave behind in authority." He informed them 
that the assembly was then enacting a law, accord- 
ing to their desire, to prevent their being abused 
by the selling of rum ; with which one of the 
sachems, in the name of the rest, expressed great 
satisfaction, and desired that the law might be 
effectually executed. 

In the assembly there was considerable alter- 
cation between the members from the province 
and those from the territories, and the governor 



132 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

being about to go to Pennsbury for a few days, 
sent them the following characteristic letter: 

"FriEiVDS: — Your union is what I desire, but 
your peace and accommodation of one another is 
what I must expect of you. The reputation of 
it is something, the reality much more; and I 
desire you to remember and observe what I say — 
yield in circumstantials to preserve essentials, and 
being safe in one another, you will always be so 
in esteem with me. Make me not sad, now I am 
going to leave you, since ^tis for you as well as for 
" Your friend, proprietor, and governor, 

"William Pexn." 

On the governor's return from Pennsbury he 
signed various laws passed by the assembly, as 
well as the charter of privileges, which had been 
read in that body, " and every part thereof ap- 
proved, agreed to, and thankfully received. '^ This 
constitution was the last granted to the province 
and territories, and in some respects was even 
more liberal than those which preceded it. The 
principal change was in allowing the assembly to 
originate bills, and to sit on its own adjournments. 
It made no provision for the election of a council, 
which was appointed by the governor, and pro- 
hibited from taking cognizance of any complaint 
relating to property, unless appeals should be pro- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 133 

vided by law. In regard to civil and religious 
liberty, the new constitution was as comprehensive 
as the old one. By a supplementary article, the 
province and territories were allowed to dissolve 
their union at any time within three years by 
giving due notice. 

The proprietary, by letters patent, appointed a 
council of state, consisting of ten members, chiefly 
Friends, who were to advise and assist him, or 
his deputy, in the affairs of government, and in 
case of the deputy's absence or death to exercise 
the executive functions. In order to give entire 
satisfaction to the assembly, Penn oliered to com- 
mission a deputy, whom they should nominate. 
This offer they took into consideration, but con- 
cluded to decline. 

At this time, " Friends' Public School," in 
Philadelphia, which had been incorporated in 
1697, received from the governor an amended 
charter, confirming its privileges. In this excel- 
lent institution the poor were taught gratuitously, 
others paid a part of the expense incurred in their 
children's education, and it was open on the same 
terms to all religious persuasions. 

Near the time of Penn's- departure, a large 

assemblage of Indian guests met him at Penns- 

bury, to take leave of him. A council was held 

in the governor's mansion, where they renewed 

12 



134 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

their former covenants with many expressions of 
good-will, and promises of continued fidelity. 
The Indians said " They never first broke cove- 
nant with any people, for, as one of them said, 
and smote his hand upon his head three times, 
that they did not make them in their heads, but 
smiting his hand three times on liis breast, said 
they made them there, in their hearts." Presents 
were made to them by the governor, who spoke 
to them with much kindness; after which they 
withdrew to an open space near the house, where 
they kindled a fire, and around it performed their 
cantico, or dance, accompanied with songs and 
shouts of triumph. 

The ship being ready to sail, Penn convened 
the inhabitants of Philadelphia, to take leave of 
them, on the 29th of October, 1701, when he 
presented to them a charter or act of incorporation 
for the city. On the 30th he appointed Andrew 
Hamilton, formerly governor of East and West 
Jersey, to be his lieutenant-governor, and James 
Logan he made provincial secretary and clerk of 
the council. 

Soon after Penn arrived in England he wrote 
to Logan, saying, "We had a swift passage, 26 days 
from the Capes to soundings ; 30 to Portsmouth. 
. . . Nothing yet done in my affairs, but my coming 
I do more and more see necessary on divers accounts, 
though a troublesome and costly journey." 



CHAPTER VII. 



1702-1709. 



IN the spring of 1702, William III. died, after 
having made preparations for another war 
with France, which was declared and prosecuted 
under his successor. He" was considered an able 
statesman and general, but ambitious of military 
glory, and so infatuated with the idea of preserv- 
ing the balance of power in Europe, that he kept 
England embroiled in expensive continental wars, 
to the great increase of her debt, the loss of many 
valuable lives, and the detriment of public morals. 
He was a sincere friend of religious toleration, 
and one of his last acts was to sign a bill in favor 
of the Friends, allowing their solemn affirmation 
to be accepted instead of an oath. 

He was succeeded by Queen Anne, the daughter 
of James II., and wife of Prince George of Den- 
mark. This princess having, on her accession, 
publicly declared her intention to maintain the 

135 



136 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

act of toleration in favor of religious dissenters, 
the yearly meeting of Friends in London adopted 
an address expressive of their acknowledgments, 
wliich was presented to her by William Penn, 
accompanied by a deputation of Friends. 

Soon after Penn's return to England, the bill 
for converting the proprietary into royal govern- 
ments, which was before the House of Lords, was 
withdrawn or defeated ; but those who urged the 
measure did not entirely abandon it; they in- 
tended to introduce it into the House of Commons, 
and all the vigilance and influence of the pro- 
prietaries were required to avert the blow or 
mitigate its force, by obtaining such privileges 
and immunities as would secure them and the 
people from the abuse of power. 

In a letter to Logan, Penn writes : " The lords 
of trade have promised me to receive no com- 
plaints, without the party sending them give them 
to the party they are sent against, upon the spot, 
for their answers, in the n^iture of bill and answer 
in chancery, that nobody may be murdered in the 
dark. A great reformation relief, and for which 
American o^overnments owe me their s^ood-will." 

Although the queen w^as very favorably dis- 
posed towards Penn, there was in Parliament a 
strong party devoted to the established church 
and opposed to the liberal government established 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 137 

in Pennsylvania. They alleged that, "in time 
of war, a province under Quaker rule would invite 
invasion and conquest, and would furnish a re- 
treat for privateers; that the solemnity of an oath 
should be required in civil and criminal jurispru- 
dence laniformly throughout all her majesty's do- 
minions. These views were urged and so far 
prevailed as to induce the parliament to pass an 
act requiring that the appointment of deputy 
governors should have the royal assent. Factious 
opposition was made to the confirmation of 
Governor Hamilton, it being alleged that he had 
been engaged in illicit trade. The validity of 
his acts until confirmed was also questioned. 
Thus was a most harassing system of opposition 
to the proprietor's government kept up, every 
fault being exaggerated, and many mere reports 
and rumors, void of any foundation in truth, 
magnified before the eyes of the queen. The 
appointment of Hamilton finally received the 
royal confirmation ; but so persistent was the op- 
position to the interests of the proprietor, that he 
was obliged either to keep an agent or remain 
himself near the court, to answer the hurtful 
charges constantly brought against his province 
and his rule." * 

In Pennsylvania there was also a "church 

* " Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania," Armor, p. IIG. 



138 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

party," not satisfied with the equality secured to 
tliem by tlie laws of the province, who were 
disaffected to the proprietary government, and 
making use of every means in their power to 
bring it into discredit with the British ministry. 

The tolerant and liberal policy of Peitn had 
attracted towards his colony adventurers of every 
class. All enjoyed equal political privileges; but 
in the first settlement, the Friends, being much 
the most numerous, were generally chosen to the 
legislature and other public stations. In a few 
years the influx of emigrants, not of their per- 
suasion, was so great that the Friends began to 
lose their preponderance, and the frequent de- 
mands of the British government for aid to mili- 
tary purposes rendered them less willing to 
serve in public stations. In 1702, the population 
of the colony was nearly equally divided between 
Friends and others. 

The administration of Governor Hamilton was 
of short duration, and embittered by dissensions 
between the representatives of the province and 
those of the territories, now composing the State 
of Delaware. The people of the provinces de- 
clined to elect representatives to the assembly, at 
the time fixed by law, and writs beiuir subse- 
quently issued by the governor for an election, 
they chose delegates, who, when they arrived at 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 139 

the seat of government, refused to unite with the 
members from the province, claiming their privi- 
lege under the charter of dissolving the union. 
The governor having used every means in his 
power to reconcile their differences, was at last 
compelled to dismiss the assembly without the 
transaction of any business. 

Governor Hamilton died the 20th of Second 
month, 1703; and the executive power devolved 
on the council, of which Edward Shippen was 
President. He made an attempt to preserve the 
union, but the members from the province, who 
before had been well affected toward it,, then re- 
fused to unite with those from the territories, 
whose refractory conduct, for many years, had 
exhausted their forbearance. This separation 
proved final ; the province and the territories, 
thereafter, acted separately in a legislative capacity. 

The council soon found themselves involved 
in difficulty through the machinations of Colonel 
Robert Quarry, a member of the Church of 
England, and Judge of the Admiralty, a court 
established by the British government in her 
American colonies, for the adjudication of mari- 
time cases. The official station of Colonel Quarry, 
and that of John Moore, advocate in the same 
court, rendered them independent of the proprie- 
tary and of the colonial legislature, whose views 



140 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

and interests it was their sjudy to thwart in every 
possible way, but especially by exaggerated re- 
ports, transmitted to the Board of Trade, in 
London. 

Colonel Quarry obtained from the queen an 
order that all the executive and judicial officers 
of the province should take " the oath directed 
by the law of England, or the affirmation allowed 
by the said law to Quakers ;'^ "as also, all per- 
sons Avho, in Eno'land, are oblifjed and willins: to 
take an oath in any public or judicial proceeding, 
be admitted so to do, by the proper officers and 
judges in Pennsylvania.'' Many of the judges 
and magistrates being Friends, were as scrupulous 
about administering an oath as taking it them- 
selves. The laws of Pennsylvania did not re- 
quire it, and a simple affirmation had been suffi- 
cient in all judicial proceedings. Now they were 
required to administer oaths' to all who were will- 
ing to take them, and rather than comply they 
would resign their offices, which the church party, 
under the direction of Quarry and Moore, would 
gladly occupy. 

When information of these proceedings reached 
the proprietary, he wrote to the council not to 
regard the demands of Quarry and his party. 
"For why," he asks, "should you obey any order 
obtained by the lords of trade, or otherwise, 



Peace pRrNciPLEs Exemplified. 141 

which is not according to patent, nor law here, 
nor the laws of your own county, which are to 
govern you till repealed. I desire you to pluck 
up that English and Christian courage, not to 
suffer yourselves to be thus treated and put upon. 
Let those factious fellows do their worst." 

He afterwards succeeded in convincing the 
board of trade that Quarry's proceedings were 
unjustifiable and turbulent, which caused them to 
send him a reprimand that silenced him. 

The great expenditures incurred by Penn in 
settling his colony, in defending it against the 
claims of Lord .Baltimore, and in protecting his 
proprietary rights against the motion in Parlia- 
ment, together with his family expenses and those 
of his son, had exhausted his income and loaded 
him with debt. 

His pecuniary wants, together with the em- 
barrassment he experienced from the enemies of 
proprietary governments in England, and the 
disaffected among the colonists, induced him to 
think of selling his government to the croAvn, 
but retaining his landed estate in the colony, where 
he still hoped to spend the evening of his days. 
In a letter to Logan, in the Fourth'month, 1703, he 
says, " I am actually in treaty with the ministers 
for my government;'^ and again, in the Tenth 
month, he writes, " Fear not my bargain with the 



142 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

crown, for it shall never be made without a secur- 
ity to the inhabitants according to the constitu- 
tion and laws of the country, though my supplies 
to defend them come so costly and slowly to my 
support/' 

In the early part of the year 1704, John Evans, 
who had been appointed by Penn, with the queen's 
approbation, as deputy-governor of Pennsylvania, 
arrived in Philadelphia. He was recommended, 
in a letter from Penn to Logan, as " a young man, 
not above six-and-twenty, but sober and sensible ; 
^ the son of an old friend who loved me not a lit- 
tle.' " He was accompanied by William Penn, 
Jr., the second and only surviving son of William 
Penn by his first marriage. Evans was not a 
Friend, nor even a man of exemplary morals, and 
Penn must have been much deceived in regard to 
his character. It is supposed that he was selected 
through the influence of the party at court, who 
believed that an efficient government could not be 
administered upon peace principles, and who would 
have opposed the confirmation of any deputy hold- 
ing the views of the Society of Friends. 

Soon after the arrival of Governor Evans, he 
increased the number of members in the provin- 
cial council by calling to the board Judge Mora- 
pesson, William Trent, Richard Hill, James Logan, 
and William Penn, Jr. The latter, in honor of 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 143 

his father, was seated next to the governor, but he 
seldom attended, being more intent upon pleasure 
than business. Penn, in sending his son to Penn- 
sylvania, placed great reliance on the prudence and 
good example of James Logan, to whose care he 
recommended him. The secretary, though a young 
man himself, fulfilled his trust with wisdom and 
fidelity, but unhappily this degenerate scion of a 
noble stock was not to be reclaimed from habits 
of dissipation into which he had fallen before he left 
England. He remained but a few months in the 
colony, and after his return to his home caused 
his father great solicitude. 

• Notwithstanding the steps that had been taken 
to provide separate legislatures for the province 
and the territories. Governor Evans summoned the 
representatives of both to meet in Philadelphia, 
and when they were assembled he made strenuous 
efforts to unite them in one body, but without 
success. The assembly of the province, by its 
unwillingness to enter into the proposed union, 
incurred the governor's displeasure, which, with the 
disputes that soon after arose concerning their 
.privileges, occasioned a hostile feeling that ob- 
structed the business of legislation. 

Governor Evans having no respect for the 
peace principles of the proprietary and the Friends, 
issued a public proclamation for raising a militia, 



144 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

commanding all persons in the colony 'Svhose 
persuasion would, on any account, permit them to 
take up arms in their own defence, that forthwith 
they should provide themselves with a good fire- 
lock and ammunition/' The reason assigned in 
the proclamation for this requisition was, that the 
queen and her allies were ^' engaged in a vigorous 
war against France and Spain for maintaining 
and preserving the liberty and balance of Europe." 

It was one of the calamitous consequences of 
subjection to the mother country, that the colonies 
were involved in her quarrels with other European 
powers, and especially with France and Spain, 
whose American possessions, being contiguous 
to those of Great Britain, brought them into hos- 
tile collision. The barbarous policy of the French 
in subsidizing the Indians and inciting them to 
murder the frontier settlers, spread alarm and 
distress, and sometimes resulted in much bloodshed. 
The Indians of western New York, called the 
Five Nations, were generally friendly to the Eng- 
lish ; their authority extended to the Susquehanna ; 
they were on excellent terms with William Penn, 
and they used their influence Avith other tribes for 
the preservation of peace. 

The administration of Governor Evans was 
disturbed throughout nearly its Avhole course by 
the conflict of opposing interests and passions. As 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 145 

in all free governments there are usually two or 
more parties contending for power and watching 
each other with jealous feelings, so in Pennsyl- 
vania there was a party opposed to the proprietary 
interests, led by David Lloyd, sometime speaker 
of the assembly, and a party, of which James Logan 
was the leader, who advocated the rights of Wil- 
liam Penn and supported his policy. The first 
assembly that met after the arrival of Governor 
Evans had arrested the progress of legislation by 
its extravagant pretensions, and when the people, 
dissatisfied with their representatives, elected others 
qualified and disposed to promote the public good, 
the harmonious action that ensued was of short dura- 
tion, for the lieutenant-governor, elated with the 
triumph of his party, proceeded to acts of dissim- 
ulation and oppression that resulted in his own 
disgrace. He had a strong inclination for military 
display, and the depredations of privateers and 
pirates on the commerce of the province, together 
with the incursions of the Indians in some of the 
neighboring colonies, furnished him with cogent 
arguments for enforcing the directions of the 
British government to put the colony in a posture 
of defence. 

In the lower counties, called the territories, his 
views met with the concurrence of the people, few 
of whom were Friends ; but in the province, where 
13 



146 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

that peace-loving people were numerous, he found 
all his efforts to sustain a militia were ineffectual, 
and only rendered him more unpopular. 

Not being able to appreciate the motives of 
the Friends, and perhaps doubting their sin- 
cerity, he determined to put their principles to a 
severe test, and for that purpose devised a scheme 
as puerile as it was mischievous. 

By an arrangement with an accomplice at New 
Castle, he managed to have a messenger sent from 
thence to Philadelphia in great haste and apparent 
consternation, to notify the authorities and people 
that a French fleet was coming up the Delaware, 
and that the town of Lewes was burnt. The 
militia were called out, and Governor Evans rode 
about town with his sword drawn, forcing all that 
could be induced to take arms, and causing powder 
to be dealt out among the people. 

It was the time of the annual fiir, and the sud- 
den surprise caused a great commotion. Some of 
the people threw their plate and other valuable 
-effects into wells, others carried away what they 
could, and the vessels and boats in the harbor were 
taken up the river. The Friends, instead of being 
driven to arms in this supposed emergency, evinced 
by their calmness and self-possession the firmness 
of their principles. It being the day of their mid- 
week meeting for worship, they assembled at the 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 147 

meeting-house as usual, and, regardless of the 
general tumult, engaged in their accustomed de- 
votion. 

Soon after the alarm, the assembly was convened, 
when Governor Evans stated to them his views on 
the propriety of establishing a militia and erect- 
ing fortifications ; but they replied that they had 
levied a considerable tax last year for the suj)port 
of government; that their cropvS having failed and 
their trade decayed, they were unable to do more ; 
and they earnestly desired of the governor, that 
those who brought up the false reports by which 
the alarm was caused might be brouglit "to con- 
dign punishment." 

The indignation of the inhabitants at the 
governor's conduct was greatly increased by an 
unwarrantable attempt he made to levy an impost 
on their commerce. Having induced the as- 
sembly of the territories to pass a law for the 
erection of a fort at New Castle, the masters 
of all vessels navigating the Delaware were 
required to report themselves, and inward- 
bound vessels were subjected to a duty of 
half-a-pound of powder for every ton of their 
capacity. 

This illegal exaction was highly resented by the 
merchants, being in contravention of the royal 
charter which secured to them tlie free navigation 



148 Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 

of the river. Richard Hill, Samuel Preston, and 
AVilliam Fishborn, owners of a new sloop, called 
the "Philadelphia,'^ then leaving on her first voy- 
age to Barbadoes, determined to withstand the 
exaction, and acquainting the governor with their 
})urpose, went on board. 

The governor hastened to New Castle and 
ordered watch to be kept for the vessel. As she 
approached, she anchored above the fort, where 
Preston and Fishborn went ashore and informed 
John French, the commandant of the fort, that she 
was regularly cleared, and they demanded their 
right to pass without interruption. This being 
refused, Richard Hill, who had been bred to the 
sea, took the helm and steered past the fort, with 
no other injury than a shot through the main-sail. 
French pursued in an armed boat, and coming 
alongside, they cast him a rope by means of 
which he boarded the vessel, when those on board 
cut the rope, which caused the boat to fall astern, 
and making him a prisoner without a blow, they 
proceeded on their way. The governor, greatly 
exasperated, pursued them in another boat to Salem, 
where Richard Hill went ashore with his prisoner ; 
and Lord Cornbury, governor of New Jersey, be- 
ing there, who claimed to be vice-admiral of the 
liver Delaware, they brought the matter before 
him. He sharply reproved French for his conduct, 



PjiACE Principles Exemplified. 149 

and to Governor Evans he expressed his disappro- 
bation. 

Hill and his associates were members of the 
Society of Friends ; they stood high in the com- 
munity, and their conduct was generally approved. 

At the next meeting of the legislature, they 
presented a petition on the subject, which occasioned 
a remonstrance from that body to the governor on 
his illegal proceedings. 

The misconduct of Evans being communicated 
to the proprietary by letters from Logan and by 
a remonstrance from the assembly, liis removal 
was deemed necessary, and Charles Gookin was 
appointed deputy-governor, in the year 1709. 

While Penn was struo^s^lino; with the difficulties 
attendant on his station as proprietary, and bur- 
dened with sorrow from the dereliction of his son, 
he was subjected to the most galling pecuniary 
embarrassments by the treachery of his steward. 
Philip Ford was a man of respectable standing, a 
member of the Society of Friends, and much 
esteemed by Penn, who employed him in the 
management of his estates, placing implicit confi- 
dence in his integrity, and accepting his ac- 
counts without scrutiny. It was this easy, con- 
fiding temper, so amiable in itself, that led the 
proprietary into many of the difficulties he 
encountered. 



150 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

On tlie large sums of money that passed through 
his hands for many years he charged exorbitant 
commissions, and on his advances he calculated 
compound interest every six months at eight per 
cent., which was one-third more than the law 
allowed, by which means, although he had received 
seventeen thousand pounds and expended sixteen 
thousand only, he brought the proprietary in 
debt to the amount of ten thousand five hun- 
dred pounds. Penn, from time to time, accepted 
liis accounts without sufficient examination, 
and finally, to secure the debt, gave him a lien 
upon his province in the form of a deed of 
conveyance. 

After the death of Philip Ford, his widow and 
son Philip brought suit, and Penn, not being 
able to satisfy their demands, became a prisoner 
for debt. He offered, for " peace sake," to pay 
such a sum as disinterested men might award, but 
the prosecutors were inexorable, and he continued 
about nine months within the prison bounds. 
During his imprisonment his friends exerted them- 
selves for his relief, and the sum of seven thousand 
six hundred pounds being raised, it was accepted 
in liquidation of the claim, and he was again set 
at liberty. 

Throughout the whole of this vexatious and 
humiliating business he evinced the fortitude of a 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 151 

true Christian, whose affections were fixed, not on 
earthly but on heavenly things ; and the beautiful 
remark of his friend, Isaac Norris, seemed applica- 
ble to him : ^^ God darkens this world to us, that 
our eyes may behold the greater brightness of his 
kingdom." 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAST DAYS OF PENN. 
1709-1718. 

WHEN Governor Gookin arrived in Phila- 
delphia the assembly then in session pre- 
sented him an address signed by David Lloyd, their 
speaker, in which, unhappily, they not only alluded 
to the conduct of his immediate predecessor, but re- 
quested that he might be prosecuted and punished 
for malversation in office, and they intimated that 
he had been influenced by " evil Gounselj' to which 
they attributed his obnoxious measures. The 
governor prudently declined to comply with their 
request, and an angry contest arose between the 
council, charged with being accessory to the mis- 
deeds of Evans, and the assembly, which was 
urgent for the prosecution. 

In obedience to an order from the queen, the 

governor made a requisition upon the assembly for 

assistance toward a military expedition against 

Canada. The quota required from Pennsylvania 

152 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 153 

was one hundred and fifty men and a contribution 
in money. The governor stated to the house, that 
being aware of the scruples of many of the inhab- 
itants against bearing arms, he would excuse them 
from furnishing troops if they would raise a subsidy 
of four thousand pounds. After much debate, the 
assembly replied that they could not, for conscience 
sake, comply with the requisition, but in gratitude 
to the queen for her many favors, they had resolved 
to raise and present her with five hundred pounds 
as a testimony of their loyalty. This was by no 
means satisfactory to the governor, who insisted 
upon a larger sum, and the assembly subsequently 
offered to add three hundred pounds for a present 
to the Indians and other public charges, and two 
hundred pounds for the governor's salary, expect- 
ing in return his concurrence in redressing their 
grievances. The governor resented this condition 
as a want of confidence and courtesy, and the re- 
mainder of the session was spent in fruitless debates 
and messages. 

On the last day'of the session, the assembly 
adopted another remonstrance containing heavy 
charges against Logan, intended, as he believed, 
for political effect, as he was not then allowed 
to answer it, and they had it publicly read in 
the several counties on the day of election. 

In the next assembly, which met in October, 



154 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

1709, tlie same party was predominant, and David 
Lloyd was again chosen speaker. 

Logan, who had hitherto stood on the defensive, 
* now became the assailant, and preferred, through 
the governor, charges against Lloyd for high mis- 
demeanors. He at the same time demanded a 
trial on the accusations made against himself, and 
stated that he was about to embark for England. 
The assembly, instead of attempting to prove their 
charges, passed a resolution for his arrest and im- 
prisonment, but the governor issued a supersedeas 
to prevent the execution of the speaker's writ, and 
Logan embarked for England. It appears that 
after a full hearing there, he was triumphantly 
acquitted, ^' both by Friends and the civil 
authorities.^' 

The confidence of William Penn in his secretary 
never wavered ; and even in the province a reaction 
took place soon after his departure. The friends of 
the proprietary rallied ; the eyes of the people were 
opened to the deceptions that had been practised 
upon them, and Lloyd's party w^as completely 
prostrated. 

In the election of 1710, not a single member of 
the last assembly was returned ; all were friends 
of the proprietary ; they chose Richard Hill for 
their speaker, and their proceedings were charac- 
terized by order, decorum and despatch. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 155 

Soon after the election, an expostulatory letter 
was received from Penn, written before he had 
heard of the reaction in favor of his government. 
It is composed in a strain of serious admonition, 
and its effect was most salutary; being a beautiful 
exposition of his affectionate regard and paternal 
care for the people of his province. 

By the election of the new assembly, harmony 
was restored to the government, and all its branches 
were distinguished by sedulous and successful ap- 
plication to business. The expenses of the State 
were cheerfully supplied, and the judiciary was 
established on a satisfactory basis. The voice of 
complaint was hushed, wdiile the manifold bless- 
ings enjoyed by the inhabitants were frankly 
acknowledged. 

In 1711, another requisition was made by the 
British government for aid in prosecuting the war 
against Canada, which being communicated by the 
governor to the assembly, they, after some delay, 
passed a law for " raising two thousand pounds to 
the queen's use.'' 

There is extant a letter of Isaac Norris in 
reference to this law, in wdiich he says : '^ We did 
not see it inconsistent with our principles to give 
the queen money, notwithstanding any use she 
might put it to, that not being our part, but hers." 

In the year 1712, the ascendency of the Friends 



156 Peace Pkikciples Exemplified. 

in the assembly is indicated by the passage of " an 
act to prevent the importation of negroes and 
Indians into the province.'' But this wise and 
humane law was annulled by the crown, in pur- 
suance of that nefarious policy ofthe British govern- 
ment, which sought to enrich her merchants by 
keeping open, in her colonies, a market for men. 

It is pleasing to reflect, that during the last three 
years of William Penn's participation in colonial 
affairs, harmony prevailed in the government of 
his province, and that an act so consonant with 
his feelings and principles was then passed ; for 
though at that time unsuccessful, it entitles Penn- 
sylvania to the honorable distinction of having led 
the way to a more humane system of legislation on 
the subject of slavery. 

For some years Penn had been negotiating with 
the British cabinet for the sale of his government. 
He was impelled to this step by two principal 
motives ; the first arose from pecuniary embarrass- 
ments — the province being still under a mortgage 
to those friends who released him from his debt to 
the Fords ; the second was the difficulty he found 
in his administration, being on the one hand often 
thwarted by a faction in the colony, and on the 
other restrained, by his allegiance to the crown, 
from the full development of his peaceable policy. 
Perhaps a third motive may have been the unfit- 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 157 

ness of his eldest son to succeed him as proprietary 
and governor. 

There were, however, other considerations which 
inclined him to keep his government: the original 
purpose of the enterprise was to found a " free 
colony for all mankind," and to administer its 
government on Christian principles. This favor- 
ite idea had been more nearly realized than in any 
other instance on record ; and he still indulged the 
hope that if a peace were concluded in Europe, 
and he settled with his flimily at Pennsbury, he 
might yet see all his plans accomplished, and spend 
the evening of his days in tranquillity. 

Another strong motive for retaining the govern- 
ment was to secure for the Friends in Pennsylva- 
nia that religious liberty which had been one of 
their main inducements to emigrate. This object, 
together with political privileges for the people, he 
kept constantly in view during his negotiations 
with tlie cabinet, by which means the completion 
of the contract was delayed for some years. 

The advice of Logan and some of his best friends 
was in favor of the sale, though they regretted the 
necessity that seemed to require it. In the sum- 
mer of 1712, the terms of the surrender were agreed 
upon, the price being fixed at twelve thousand 
pounds, payable in four years, but the conveyance 
w'as not then executed. In the autumn of the same 
14 



158 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

year he was attacked by paralysis, while writing 
to James Logan. It came upon him so suddenly 
that his hand was arrested in the beginning of a 
sentence, which he never completed. 

Pie was then at Bristol, and recovered sufficiently 
to go to London, and thence to his residence at 
Ruscombe. 

During six years he lingered an invalid, gradu- 
ally sinking to the grave. His memory was im- 
paired, his noble intellect was clouded, but the 
sweetness of his temper remained, and he was 
favored to retain the highest and best of his endow- 
ments — a sense of spiritual enjoyment, and a 
heart overflowing with love to God and man. 

He had received a thousand pounds in advance 
on the sale of his government, but the deed not 
being executed, the crown lawyers gave it as their 
opinion that he was not capable of completing the 
surrender. In this emergency the whole burden of 
his public and private affairs devolved on his wife. 

Hannah Penn was a woman of extraordinary 
energy and fortitude; her arduous duties were 
faithfully and successfully performed ; the return 
of peace, in 1713, brought prosperity to the colony ; 
the increasing value of property there enabled her, 
after some years, to discharge the mortgage; and 
during her husband's declining health, the voice 
of complaint was seldom heard from the assembly 
or people of Pennsylvania. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 159 

On the 30th day of the Fifth month (July, O. S.), 
1718, William Penn passed from the trials of time 
to the rewards of eternity ; being in the 74th year 
of his age. He was buried at Jordans, in Buck- 
inghamshire, where his first wife and several of 
his family had been before interred. 

Hannah Penn received from "the General 
Meeting" of Friends, in Philadelphia, an affec- 
tionate letter of condolence ; and the Indians in 
Pennsylvania, hearing of the death of their great 
and good friend Onas, in order to testify their 
regard for his memory, and their sympathy with 
his widow, sent her an address of condolence, 
accompanied by a present. It consisted of " mate- 
rials for a garment of skins, suitable for travelling 
through a thorny wilderness," intending to express 
by this symbol the difficulties that lay in her path, 
and their desire that she might pass through them 
in safety. 

In all the transactions of his eventful life, the 
character of William Penn shines out in clearness 
and purity. The lapse of more than one hundred 
and fifty years has not dimmed its lustre, and 
even his modern traducer admits that " his name 
has become, throughout all civilized countries, a 
synonym for probity and philanthropy."* 

* For a refutation of Macaulay's charges against William 
Penn, see W. E. Forster's "Preface to Clarkson's Life of 



160 Peace Pkinoiples Exemplified. 

One of the most remarkable traits in his charac- 
ter was his magnanimity. With singular disre- 
gard for selfish or personal considerations, he de- 
voted his life to the good of mankind. When we 
consider the sacrifices he made for the benefit of 
others, we cannot but lament that the evening of 
his days was clouded by pecuniary embarrassments. 
Had he been careful to husband the revenues of 
his Irish estates, had he not generously declined 
tlie imposts offered liim by the first colonial assem- 
bly, had he been less charitable to the poor, and 
less bountiful to the Indians, he might have lived 
in affluence, and been saved the humiliation of 
imprisonment for debt. But would his character 
have been more dear to our hearts? Should we 
not have missed some of the most instructive por- 
tions of his history? As in prosperity he was not 
vainly elated, so, in adversity, he was not unduly 
depressed, but evinced in all his vicissitudes a 
happy equanimity. In the counsels of infinite 
wisdom, his afflictions were, doubtless, made instru- 
mental to some high purpose; perhaps to purify 
the immortal spirit for its blest abode, or to mani- 

Penn ; " W. Hepvvorth Dixon's " Historical Biography of 
Penn ; " S. M. Janney's " Life of Penn," chap, xxii., and appen- 
dix to edition 4th, and subsequent editions: "An Inquiry into 
tlie evidence relating to the charges brought by Lord Macau- 
lay against William Penn," by John Paget, Esq., Barrister-at- 
law, London, 1858. 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 161 

fest to the world the power of religion to sustain 
the soul under all the trials of life. 

It is remarked by Bancroft, that " Penn never 
gave counsel at variance with popular rights.^' . . . 
^^ England to-day confesses his sagacity, and is 
doing honor to his genius." ^'After more than a 
century, the laws which he re})roved began gradu- 
ally to be repealed ; and the principle which he 
developed, sure of immortality, is slowly, but firmly, 
asserting its power over the legislation of Great 
Britain," ...,'' Every charge of hypocrisy, of 
selfishness, of vanity, of dissimulation, of credulous 
confidence ; every form of reproach, from virulent 
abuse to cold apology, every ill name, from tory 
and Jesuit, to blasphemer and infidel, has been 
used against Penn ; but the candor of his character 
always triumphed over calumny. 

^'His name was safely cherished as a household 
word in the cottages of Wales and Ireland, and 
among the peasantry of Germany ; and not a ten- 
ant of a wigwam, from the sea to the Susquehanna, 
doubted his integrity. His fame is now wide as 
the world ; he is one of the few who have gained 
abiding glory." * 

* " History of United States," II., 381-400. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PEACE-POLICY 'A SUCCESS. 

IT was the purpose of William Penn and h-is 
associates to found and govern a common- 
wealth, without arms or military defences, in ac- 
cordance with the peace principles enunciated by 
our Saviour in his sermon on the mount. 

We can readily conceive that such an experiment, 
if attempted on an island, previously uninhabited, 
not subject to foreign control, and colonized by 
men imbued with the principles of peace, would 
probably succeed in securing a degree of harmony 
and happiness not elsewhere to be found on earth. 
But in Pennsylvania the case was widely different. 
Owing allegiance to the British government, 
whose policy was warlike and aggressive, vehe- 
mently urged by the officers of the crown to join 
the other colonies in their hostilities against the 
French and Indians ; having a British court of 
admiralty established in her midst* endeavoring to 
exact the use of oaths; and worst of all, having in 
162 



Peace Peinciples Exemplified. 163 

her metropolis a band of adventurers, attracted 
thither by her prosperity, abusing the liberty they 
enjoyed and fomenting discord, in order to weaken 
the proprietary government — that with all these 
impediments, AYilliam Penn should have succeeded 
in maintaining his authority without a compro- 
mise of his principles, may be accounted truly 
wonderful. 

A government can be conducted on the princi- 
ples of peace, by those only who have an abiding 
faith in Divine protection, and forbear to provide 
themselves with military defences. This position 
is sustained by reference to the history of the other 
American colonies. 

" In Maryland, as well as in New England,'' 
says Graham, in his '^Colonial History," "doubtless 
the pacific endeavors of the colonists were coun- 
teracted, not only by the natural ferocity of the 
Indians, but by the hostilities of other Europeans, 
by which that ferocity was, from time to time, 
enkindled and developed. Yet the Quakers of 
Pennsylvania, who were exposed to the same dis- 
advantage, escaped its evil consequences, and were 
never attacked by the Indians. 

"Relying implicitly and exclusively on the pro- 
tection of Heaven, they renounced every act or 
indication of self-defence that could awaken the 
contentiousness of human nature, or excite appre- 



164 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

hensive jealousy by ostentation of tlie power to 
injure. But the Puritan and Catholic colonists of 
New England and Maryland, while they professed 
and exercised good-will to the Indians, adopted the 
hostile precaution of demonstrating their readiness 
and ability to repel violence. They displayed arras 
and erected forts, and thus provoked the suspicion 
they expressed, and invited the injury they antici- 
pated." 

It would not be difficult to point out a danger- 
ous fallacy in the maxim so generally believed — 
that in time of peace nations should prepare for 
Avar. For as in the intercourse of individuals with 
each other, it is found that those who habitually 
carry arms are more liable than others to be in- 
volved in deadly affrays, so in the intercourse of 
nations, the hostile attitude assumed by their vast 
armaments, and the numerous officers employed, 
who are dependent for promotion and renown on 
actual hostilities, are rather incentives to war than 
sureties for peace. 

The enterprise of Penn and his associates in the 
colony of Pennsylvania, by demonstrating the 
feasibility of peaceable principles, has served to 
confirm the faith of the wavering, and to encourage 
the true-hearted disciples of Christ. As an example 
of Christian principles applied to the government 
of a commonwealth, it stands without a parallel in 



Peace Pkinciples Exemplified. 165 

the history of the world ; and will, doubtless, con- 
tinue to be more admired and imitated as time 
advances, until that happy period shall arrive when 
" nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more." 

The political contests which, at times, disturbed 
the harmony of the colony, and caused much solici- 
tude to the Founder, though considered at the time 
portentous evils, were such as frequently are found 
in all free governments. Tiie people were some- 
times misled by designing demagogues, but when 
their minds were disabused, and they were aroused 
to action, a strong majority was found on the side 
of order. " To freedom and justice a fair field was 
given, and they were safe.'^ 

There was, in the charter of Pennsylvania, a 
defect which Penn could neither avoid nor remedy. 
He was a feudal sovereign, acting as the executive 
of a democracy, and these two elements were found 
incompatible. While residing in the colony, his 
sweetness of temper, and weight of character, en- 
abled him to govern without encountering factious 
opposition, but, in his absence, no deputy could be 
found fully competent to supply his place. But 
although the passions and frailties incident to 
human nature gave rise, at times, to contention, 
and obstructed the course of legislation, there was 
no resort to arms, and all the dreadful calamities 
of war were averted. 



166 Peace Principles Exemplified. 

There is no evidence on the records that the 
death-penalty for crime was inflicted — human life 
was held sacred — and the reformation of offenders 
was considered an important end in the adminis- 
tration of punitive justice. 

There were many settlements of Indians in 
Bucks and Chester counties, which remained long 
after the foundation of the colony. "Tradition 
relates that they were kind neighbors, supplying 
the white people with meat and sometimes with 
beans and other vegetables, which they did in per- 
fect charity, bringing presents to their houses and 
refusing pay. Their children were sociable and 
fond of play ; a harmony arose out of their mutual 
intercourse and dependence, and native simplicity 
reigned to its greatest extent." * 

The efforts of the Friends to benefit the Indians 
were not confined to endeavors to conciliate and 
civilize them, but extended to their instruction in 
spiritual knowledge, and the practice of a Christian 
life. These efforts were not without success, for 
although few of the natives embraced the Christian 
profession, there is abundant evidence that many 
among them evinced, by their deportment, some 
of the noblest traits of the Christian character. 
There is an account of " a portion of them in the 

* Manuscript account by Dr. John Watson, in the archives 
of the Historical Society, Pa. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 167 

western part of Pennsylvania^ who^ from a self- 
conviction of the injustice and irreligion of war, 
United themselves into a community, with a resolu- 
tion to war no more ; and asserting as their reason 
that * when God made men, he did not intend they 
should hurt or kill one another.' '' This account 
is given by Anthony Benezet, and he attributes 
the wonderful change in their deportment to the 
immediate operation of the '^ light of Christ in 
the soul.'' 

The natives, on their part, did not fail to re- 
ciprocate the benevolence of the colonists. Though 
generally prompt to avenge an injury, they never 
forgot a kindness, and were not surpassed by any 
other people in the virtues of gratitude, honesty 
and veracity. . 

During the Avhole time the influence of the 
Friends prevailed in the province, being a period 
of more than seventy years, the Indians in Penn- 
sylvania seldom committed an injury, and never 
took the life of a white man. 

"Of all the colonies that ever existed," says 
Ebeling, " none was ever founded on so philan- 
thropic a plan, none was so deeply impressed with 
the character of its founder, none practised in a 
greater degree the principles of toleration, liberty 
and peace, and none rose and flourished more 
rapidly than Pennsylvania. She was the youngest 



168 Peace Peinciples Exempi.ified. 

of the Britisli colonies established before the 
eighteenth century, but it was not h)ng before she 
surpassed most of her elder sisters in population, 
agriculture, and general prosperity." * 

This sentiment is corroborated by the eloquent 
language of Charles Sumner: '^To William Penn/' 
he says, " belongs the distinction, destined to 
brighten as men advance in virtue, of first in 
human history establishing the Laic of Love as a 
rule of conduct in intercourse of nations. He 
declined the superfluous protection of arms against 
foreign force, and ^ aimed to reduce the savage 
nations by just and gentle manners to the love 
of civil society and the Christian religion.' His 
serene countenance, as he stands with his fol- 
lowers, all unarmed, beneath the spreading elm, 
forming the great treaty of friendship with the 
untutored Indians — Avho fill with savage display 
the surrounding forest as far as the eye can reach — 
not to wrest their lands by violence, but to obtain 
them by peaceful purchase, is to my mind the 
proudest picture in the history of our country. 
'The great God,' said the illustrious Quaker, 
Mias written his law in our hearts by which we 
are taught and commanded to love, and to helj), 
and to do good to one another. It is not our 



* " History of Pennsylvania," by Professor Ebeling, of Ham- 
burg. " Hazard's Reg.," I., 340. 



Peace Principles Exemplified. 169 

custom to use hostile weapons against our fellow- 
creatures, for which reason we have come unarmed ; 
our object is not to do injury, but to do good. We 
have, then, met in the broad pathway of good 
faith and good-will, so that no advantage can be 
taken on either side, but all is to be openness, 
brotherhood and love, while all are to be treated 
as of the same flesh and blood.' These are words 
of true greatness. The flowers of prosperity smile 
in the blessed footprints of Yv^illiam Penn. His 
people were unmolested and happy, while — sad 
contrast — those of other colonies, acting upon the 
policy of the world, building forts, and showing 
themselves in arms, not after receiving provoca- 
tion, but merely in anticipation, or from fear of 
danger, were harassed by perpetual alarm, and 
pierced by the sharp arrows of savage war. This 
pattern of a Christian commonwealth never fails 
to arrest the admiration of all who contemplate 
its beauties." 
15 



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